SUPPLEMENTAL LETTER 



CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 

ON 

SOME PARTS OF THE EVIDENCE GIVEN BY THE IRISH 
ROMAN-CATHOLIC BISHOPS, 

PARTICULARLY BY DR. DOYLE, 

BEFORE THE 

COMMITTEES OF THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, 
IN THE SESSION OF 1825: 

AND 

ALSO ON CERTAIN PASSAGES IN DR. DOYLE'S 
" ESSAY ON THE CATHOLIC CLAIMS." 



BY 

REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D.D. 

RECTOR OF STANHOPE. 



LONDON : 

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, 

MDCCCXXVI. 



London: 

PR1NTEB BY C. ROWORTH, Bill YARSj 
TEMPLE BAR, 



TO 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE AND RIGHT REVEREND 

WILLIAM, 
LORD BISHOP OF LONDON. 

My Lord, 

In seeking for this small work 
the protection of your Lordship's name, 
I am influenced not merely by my high 
respect for your distinguished character, 
nor even by my grateful sense of the 
kindness with which you have long ho- 
noured me. 

My former volume was inscribed to my 
revered Patron, the Bishop of Durham ; 
and I cannot soon forget that the last 
commission with which he will ever charge 



( iv ) 

me, was to convey to your Lordship his 
heartfelt thanks for the affection which 
you had borne to him. I feel it, therefore, 
now, a source of melancholy pleasure, as 
well as the gratification of an honest pride, 
to bring together in the dedication of these 
volumes the names of two such Men, so 
connected by mutual affection, by kindred 
virtues, and by common zeal in the defence 
of that great cause, which my feeble 
efforts are designed to serve. 

I am, 

My Lord, 
With sincere and great respect, 
Your Lordship's obliged 

And most faithful Servant, 

Henry Phillpotts. 

London, 
March 17th, 1826. 



SUPPLEMENTAL LETTER 

TO 

CHARLES BUTLER, ESQ. 



Sir, 

Your new volume, entitled "Vindica- 
" tion of the Book of the Roman-Catholic 
" Church," &c, has just reached me, and, as 
far as my work is concerned, I beg leave to 
congratulate you on the very ingenious mode 
which you have adopted, to dispose of the 
charges adduced by me against you. You 
give* the title of my book, and are then pleased 
to say what follows :— " As fair specimens of 
" the spirit and style of this publication, and 
" of the worth of the charges brought in it 
" against me, I select from it,— I. The author's 
" criminations of my statement of the Roman- 
" Catholic doctrine of purgatory ; II. His crimi- 

* Page xxxix. 
B 



2 



MR. BUTLER ? S ANSWER. 



" nations of my statement of the Roman-Catho- 
" lie Doctrine of Sacramental Absolution ; and 
" III. His criminations of the expression 
" Dominium altum, used by me in a former 
" work, to describe the Pope's spiritual au- 
" thority in extraordinary cases of a spiritual 
" nature, and exerted by Pius VII. in his 
" transactions with Napoleon." 

Beginning with the first, I shall copy from the 
" Book of the Roman-Catholic Church, the 
" passage respecting Purgatory reprehended by 
Dr. Phillpotts ;" (this is done faithfully) "and 
" then copy his remarks upon it, and his citation 
" from Calvin, of the passage in that author, 
" to which I referred ;" the latter part of this 
promise is also faithfully performed. But as to 
the former, will my readers believe it possible, 
that after having thus, twice within half a page, 
declared that you " will select my criminations 
" of your statement of the Roman-Catholic 
*' doctrine of Purgatory," and " will copy my 
" remarks" upon them ; (it was well you did 
not, for they extend through five and forty 
pages ;) you have the confidence to affect to 
redeem your pledge, by copying one of the 
most unimportant matters, occupying less than 
a fifteenth part of the whole ; one single in- 
stance of your mistatement, upon which you 



NOTE ON DR. LINGARD S ANSWER. 



3 



fancy that you can contrive to raise a little 
fresh cloud of sophistication ? Really, I am 
ashamed of my adversary, and will have 
nothing more to say to you. Talk, if you will, 
about Calvin, and prove again and again, if you 
will, the whole of what I have already proved 
against you respecting him — you shall have the 
field to yourself. 

Your lively friend Dr. Lingard, who offers 
" you his congratulations" (I doubt not with 
his usual sincerity,) " on the eminent services 
ei which by your works you have rendered to 
" the Catholic cause" shall be treated by me 
with almost as little ceremony. He has 
laboured effectually to prove, that no satis- 
factory answer can be given to my charge 
against him ; thanking him, therefore, for his 
assistance, I consign the few observations I 
shall make on him to a note below.* 

* I begin with stating Low his case stands in points which 
admit not of any more discussion. 

1 . He endeavoured to throw a general air of discredit over 
the second Nicene Council,, except as far as relates to the doc- 
trinal decree passed in the last session. — In answer to this, I 
have shown by the strongest testimony, that the Council is one 
of the very highest authority. To this there is no reply. 

2. He said particularly, " the Acts of this Council are of no 
" authority in the Catholic church." — I have challenged him 

B 2 



4 NOTE ON DR. LINGARD's ANSWER. 



In my present address to you, there will be 
nothing that applies particularly to yourself, or 

to produce evidence of this assertion, and have myself produced 
evidence of the contrary, the Catechism of the Council of 
Trent, Cardinal Bellarmine, and Pope Adrian I. In his Let- 
ter to Mr. Butler, p. 222, he says, " Catholics admit the Se- 
*' cond Nicene Council, and subscribe to its decree respect- 
" ing the faith of the church 5 they refer to its acts as an his- 
" toxical document, but not as doctrinal authority binding their 
« belief." 

Now, of the acts, almost every one contain doctrinal decrees, 
affirmed with an Anathema, and therefore binding on the belief 
of the Roman Catholic Church. At the end of the second is 
given, nominatim, the assent of the several Fathers to the doc- 
trine contained in the Synodical Epistle of Adrian, with an 
anathema against those who oppose it. At the end of the fourth, 
as well as of the last, there is an actual subscription by the 
legates from Rome, and of all the other members of the Council. 
They are, therefore, complete doctrinal authority ; and Dr. 
Lingard's subterfuge will not serve him. He has stated the 
thing which is not, and when his mistatement is proved against 
him, he has neither the manliness nor the honesty to admit it. 

3. He insinuated (and, I repeat, that an honest man ought 
to feel, that to insinuate what is untrue, is as bad as to affirm 
it,) he insinuated, that only " the doctrinal decree passed in 
" the last session," not the acts of this Council at its other ses- 
sions, <e was approved by the Popes." — In contradiction to this, 
I have adduced the express approbation given to all the acts, 
nay, a detailed answer to all objections against them, by the 
very Pope, Adrian I., who, by his legates, presided at the 
Council. Dr. Lingard dares not hazard a syllable in his own 



NOTE ON DR. LINGARDS ANSWER. 5 



to any of your learned labours ; but I shall take 
the liberty of using this form of address for the 

defence on this point. Here, then, we again have confitentem 
reum. 

4. He has said that " In the Acts and Canons of this Council 
much is contained, to which the Roman Church would never im- 
part its sanction, quae apud nos nec habentur, nec admittuntur, 
says Anastasius Bibliothecarius, a Roman writer of the same age." 

It has been proved, and is admitted, that these latter words 
are an inaccurate citation, that they ought to stand in the 
genuine text as follows, quae penes nos interpretata nec habentur 
nec admittuntur 5 and that they refer to certain particular 
things there specified. 

Dr. Lingard says, that he doss not Know, whether the 
omission of the word " interpretata" arose from the negligence 
of the printer, or from his own inadvertence ! that it evidently 
was not intentional, because the omission could not strengthen 
his cause. 

Let our readers look at the whole sentence, as produced by 
me (p. 1 06.) in its genuine state, and judge for themselves. Does 
it not specify certain matters in no way concerned in the argu- 
ment between us, which, therefore, even if Dr. Lingard could 
truly say that they were rejected by the Church of Rome, would 
have left my citations from the council wholly unaffected ? 
Why then did he not cite the words of Anastasius in such a 
manner as to shew their specific application ? What honest 
reason can be assigned for the omission ? 

But the truth is, that the words of Anastasius do not, when 
properly understood, imply that any part of the proceedings of 
the Council were rejected by the Church of Rome. To make 
it appear that they do, Dr. Lingard affirms, that both the 
larger Collection of Apostolic Canons, and that of the Council of 
Trullo (the quinisextian) were not only " quoted with applause, 



6 MISTATEMENT BY IRISH R. C. PRELATES. 



more convenient arrangement of the matter I 
have to treat. 

That matter is not unimportant : for it 
relates to the endeavours recently made by the 
prelates of your communion in Ireland, particu- 
larly by Dr. Doyle, to give such a view of the 
doctrine and practices of your church, as is, in 
my honest opinion, utterly fallacious. I shall 
avail myself, therefore, of the publicity given to 
their evidence before the two Houses of Parlia- 
ment, to examine a few of the particulars of 
that evidence with freedom, but, I trust, with 
candour. 

" but approved and confirmed by tbe Second Nicene Council in 
ie the strongest terms." 

I defy Dr. Lingard to produce the passage on which he 
founds these assertions. Will he cite the first canon of the 
last-named council ? That only orders generally the obser- 
vance of the Apostolic Canons, and those of the six general 
Councils, in which number that of Trullo was not, though the 
Greeks call its canons those of the sixth council. (Accordingly 
Bellarmine considers only one of the canons of Trullo, the 
eighty-second, which had been cited in the second and fourth 
acts, as admitted by the second Nicene Council.) And it is 
the object of Anastasius to show that, whatever is admitted by 
this General Council being of course admitted by the Church of 
Rome, none of the apostolic or quinisextian canons, contrary 
to former canons, &c. are therein admitted. 

Here, then, I leave "Dr. Lingard," re-affirming my former 
charge against " his unfaithfulness in quotation'' with in- 
creased evidence. 



EVIDENCE RESPECTING PRAYER TO SAINTS. 7 

Taking the matters in the order in which they 
occur in my former letters to you, I begin with 
the evidence respecting 

" PRAYER TO THE VIRGIN MARY AND TO SAINTS/' 

Dr. Kelly, Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Tuam, tells the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons, that " Roman Catholics believe, that God 
" maybe inclined to hear requests made in our 
" behalf by them, and to grant us many favours 
" through their intercession : that invocation 
" of saints, for this purpose, is no more injurious 
" to Christ, our mediator, than it is for one 
" Christian to beg the prayers of another in this 
" world, as St. Paul did." ** When they in- 
" voke the Virgin Mary, they do not consider 
" that she can grant favours of herself, but 
" that she may, through her powerful interces- 
" sion, obtain favours from God for us.'' p. 240. 
On a subsequent day, a Latin prayer to the 
Virgin is adduced, of which the following is an 
extract ; " te deprecor ut mea inopia sublevetur, 
" ut per te purgationem peccatorum obtineam ;" 
and Dr. Kelly says, that " the use of the word 
" per constitutes it a prayer of intercession; 
" that it is through her intercession only, that 
" all those favours are sought to be obtained by 
" this prayer."— p. 264. 



8 



FRAYERS NOW ADDRESSED 



Now this, at least, is making the distinction 
to be very finely drawn, and suspends the whole 
weight of the honour due to God on a very 
slender thread : to any one who may chance- to 
use this prayer without understanding this 
solitary preposition in Dr. Kelly's sense, (which 
is by no means its only, or its most obvious 
sense,) it is then an act of the utmost impiety, 
it is a transfer to a mere creature of the honour 
due, by the word of God, to God only. 

But let this pass — let it be granted for a 
moment, and only for a moment, that the Virgin 
is always addressed merely as a mediatrix of 
intercession — What is the value which the 
Church of Rome assigns to her intercession ? 
Is it held to be so powerful, as to ensure abso- 
lute acceptance of any prayer addressed for us 
by her, to her blessed son ? If it be, the result 
is practically the same as if she were able to 
grant every thing by her own mere power : and 
that it is, will require very little investigation 
to prove. 

I have shown, in my second letter to you, the 
blasphemous excess of honour, the representa- 
tion of her more than human dignity, given in 
your breviary. I will now adduce a prayer to 
to her, set forth so lately as in the year 1822, 
by Pius VII. and by his special command ap- 



TO THE VIRGIN MARY. 



9 



pointed (with one or two others of the same 
sort) to be distributed gratis, for the use of the 
people of Rome, with an Indulgence of 300 
days for those who use them once, and a 
plenary Indulgence for those who use them 
every day for an entire month.* 

" I adore thee, most Holy Virgin, Queen of 
" Heavens, Lady and Patroness of the Uni- 
<k verse, as daughter of the Eternal Father, 
" Mother of his most beloved Son, and most 
" gracious spouse of the Holy Ghost ; and, pros- 
" trate at the feet of thy great Majesty, with all 
" possible humility, I supplicate thee, by that 
" divine love, with which thou wast filled on thy 
" assumption into Heaven, to grant me so much 
" grace and mercy, as to receive me under thy 
" most secure and faithful protection, and to 
" number me among thy most happy and joyful 
" servants, whom thou bearest engraven in thy 
" virgin bosom. Vouchsafe, O my most merciful 
" Mother and Lady, to receive this miserable 
" and impure heart ; take my memory, my 
" will, and all my other faculties and senses, 
" both internal and external ; accept my eyes, 

* Orazione da recitarsi da chi desidera acquistarsi la prote- 
zione della santissima Vergine e di ottinere qualcbe grazia 
purche sia espediente per 1' eterna salute. In Roma. 1822. 
Pel Bourlie. La presente orazione si dispensa gratis. 



10 DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART 

" my ears, my mouth, my hands, my feet ; rule 
" them and make them conformed to the good 
" pleasure of thy sweet Son (figliuolo), intending 
" at every movement of them to give to thee 
" infinite glory," &c. 

I will next present you with some specimens 
of prayers to her, which are now in daily use 
among the Roman Catholics of this very land. 
They are selected* from " The Devotion of the 
" Sacred Heart of Jesus, including the Devotion 
" to the Sacred Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 
" with an appendix," (by R. R. John Milner, 
Bishop of Castabala, Vicar Apostolic,) " and 
" the Indult of his holiness, Pius VII. in favour 
" of it, for the use of the midland district." 12th 
edition. Keating and Brown, 1821. 

THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED HEART OF MARY. 

SECTION I. 

" As the adorable heart of Jesus was formed 
" in the chaste womb of the blessed Virgin, 

* Since this selection was made, I find that I have been in 
part anticipated by Mr. Blanco White, in the Appendix to his 
te Practical and Internal Evidence against Catholicism." Let 
nie avail myself of this opportunity to bear my humble testi- 
mony to the worth of that inestimable volume, a volume which 
I venture to characterize as the most valuable contribution 
which the Church of England has received in its controversy 
with the Church of Rome, for more than a century. 



OF MARY. 



" and of her blood and substance, so we can- 
" not, in a more proper and agreeable manner, 
" show our devotion to the sacred heart of the 
" Son, than by dedicating some part of the 
" said devotion to the ever pure heart of the 
" Mother. For you have two hearts here 
" united in the most strict alliance and tender 
' ' conformity of sentiments, so that it is not in 
u nature to please the one without making 
" yourself agreeable to the other, and accept- 
" able to both. Go then, devout client, go to 
" the heart of Jesus, but let your way be 
" through the heart of Mary. The sword of 
" grief which pierced her soul opens you a 
" passage : enter by the wound love has made ; 
" advance to the heart of Jesus, and rest there 
" even to death itself. Presume not to separate 
" and divide two objects so intimately one or 
" united together, but ask redress in all your 
" exigences from the heart of Jesus, and ask 
" this redress through the heart of Mary. 

" This form and method of worship is the doc- 
" trine and the very spirit of God's church ; it 
" is what she teaches us in the unanimous voice 
" and practice of the faithful, who will by no 
<( means that Jesus and Mary should be separated 
"from each other in our prayers, praises, and 
" affections." 



21 EXTRAVAGANT PRATERS TO MARY 



" Come, then, hardened and inveterate sin- 
" ner, how great soever your crimes may be ! 
" come and behold ! Mary stretches out her 
" hand, opens her breast to receive you. 
" Though insensible to the great concerns of 
" your salvation, though, unfortunately, proof 
" against the most engaging invitations and inspi- 
" rations of the Holy Ghost, fling yourself at the 
"feet of this powerful Advocate. Her throne, 
" though so exalted, has nothing forbidding, 
" nothing dreadful ; her heart is all love, all ten- 
" derness. If you have the least remains of con- 
<( fidence and reliance on her protection, doubt not 
" she will carry you through her own most blessed 
" heart in the most speedy and most favourable 
" manner, to the truly merciful and most sacred 
" heart of her Son Jesus"— p. 198—201. 

AN ANGELICAL EXERCISE. 

" I reverence you, O sacred Virgin Mary, 
u the Holy Ark of the Covenant ; and together 
« with all the good thoughts of all good men 
" upon earth, and all the blessed spirits in hea- 
" ven, do bless and praise you infinitely , for that 
" you are the great Mediatrix between God and 
" man, obtaining for sinners all they can ask and 
" demand of the blessed Trinity. Hail Mary."— 
p. 293. 



NOW USED IN ENGLAND. 



13 



"THE THIRTY DAYS PRAYER." 

*#* It is particularly recommended as a proper devotion 
for every day in Lent, and all the Fridays throughout the year. 

" Ever glorious and blessed Mary, Queen of 
" Virgins," &c. " Thou art the Mother of Mercy, 
" the sweet consolatrix, and only refuge of the 
" needy and the orphans, of the desolate and 
" the afflicted ; cast, therefore, an eye of pity on 
" a miserable forlorn child of Eve, and hear 
" my prayer; whither can I fly for more se- 
" cure shelter, O amiable Mother of my Lord 
" and Saviour Jesus Christ, than under the 
" wings of thy maternal protection ?" " And, 
" as I am persuaded, my divine Saviour doth ho- 
" nour thee as his beloved Mother, to whom he 
" can refuse nothing, so let me speedily 
6i experience the efficacy of thy powerful inter- 
" cession, according to the tenderness of thy 
" maternal affection, and his filial loving heart, 
" who mercifully granteth the requests and 
" complieth with the desires of those that love 
" and fear him."— p. 305—311. 

So much for prayers to her as a Mediatrix of 
intercession ; let us now proceed to some of 
higher pretension. 



14 EXTRAVAGANT PRAYERS TO VIRGIN MARY 



" A practice made use of by St. Mechtildis." 
—p. 212, 213. 

" O Holy Mary, our Sovereign Queen ! As 
" God the Father, by his omnipotence, has made 
•* thee most 'powerful, so assist us at the hour of our 
" death, by defending us against all power that is 
" contrary to thine. Hail Mary. 

" O Holy Mary, our Sovereign Queen ! As 
" God the Son has endowed thee with so much 
" knowledge and charity, that it enlightens 
" all heaven, so in the hour of our death illustrate 
" and strengthen our souls with the knowledge of 
" the true faith, that they be not perverted by 
" error or pernicious ignorance. Hail Mary. 

" O Holy Virgin, our Sovereign Queen ! As 
" the Holy Ghost has plentifully poured forth 
" into thee the love of God, so instil* into us at 
" the hour of death, the sweetness of divine love, 



* The following is an extract from a prayer to St. Aloysius. — 
p. 348, 349. 

" Angelical youth, Aloysius, by the particular appointment of 
<l God's Vicar upon Earth, Patron of those who apply to stu- 
" dies." " For the love thou hadst for Christ crucified and 
<e his most blessed Mother, receive me as thy client and obedient 
" servant ; aid and assist me in the pursuit of virtue and learning ; 
<e nourish and increase in me a purity of mind and manners ; 
" turn off the snares laid against my chastity ; ward and defend 
<( me against the dangers of the world ; inspire my heart with a 



NOW USED IN ENGLAND. 



15 



' that all bitterness at that , time may become 
' acceptable and pleasant to us. Hail Mary. 

" Our blessed Lady herself taught St, Mechtil- 
' dis the abovementioned triple salutation, promts- 
' ing her certain assistance for it at the hour of 
? her deaths— p. 212, 213. 

AN ANGELICAL EXERCISE. 

u I am an amiable and loving Mother, Mater 
' amabilis, says the glorious Virgin Mary, Mo- 
' ther of God. Will you, my dear child, do 
' something this day in my honour? For you 
must know, that Heave nothing, though of never 
so little value, unrecompensed, which is done in 
my honour ; as Troilus Savelli, a young Baron 
of Rome, though a great and enormous sin- 
ner, can well testify, who, at the end of his 
life, being beheaded for his wickedness, ob- 
tained by my favour so perfect contrition and 
remission of his sins, that he died like a Saint, 
for having never failed to say once a day on his 
bare knees one Ave Maria in my honour, I as- 
sure you, in the sincerity of a Mother, that at 

true and filial confidence in the ever blessed Virgin Mary, the 
Mother of good counsels ; govern and direct me in my choice 
of a state of life, and let the grace of God be my perpetual 
defence against all mortal sin ; that assisted by tby patronage 
and aided by the Grace of God, &c.'' 



16 BLASPHEMOUS PRAYERS TO VIRGIN MARY 

" the hour of your death, being forsaken of all 
" your friends, you will wish to have performed 
" all things possible to obtain my grace and fa- 
" vour. Hail Mary."— p. 286. 

In order that my readers may know what it 
costs to die like a saint in this most accommo- 
dating Church, I will transcribe an Ave Maria. 
" Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: 
" benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus 
" fructus ventris tui, Jesus." This is all. 

Again : "lam the Protectress of my Servants, 
" says the glorious Mother of God. Givemeyour 
4( heart, my dear child, and if it be as hard as a 
"flint, I will make it as soft as wax ; and if it be 
" more foul and loathsome than dirt, I will render 
" it more clear and beautiful than crystal. My 
* ' blessed servant Ignatius gave me one day power 
" over his heart, and I did render it so chaste 
" and strong, that he never after felt any motion 
" of the flesh all his life. Give me your heart, 
" my child, and tell me, in the sincerity of a 
" true son, how much you love me, your chaste 
" Mother ? Hail Mary." 

" O my dear Mother ! I love you more than 
" my tongue can express, and more than my 
" very soul can conceive. And 1 reverence you, 
" O sacred Virgin Mary! and together with the 
" Holy Trinity bless and praise you infinitely, for 



NOW USED IN ENGLAND. 



17 



" that you are worthy of so many praises, as 
" none can,no not yourself, conceive. I praise 
" and magnify you a thousand thousand times, 
" and ten thousand times I bless that sacred 
" womb of yours which bore the Son of the 
" Eternal Father. Hail Mary."— p. 294. 

Among " various salutations and benedictions 
" to the honour of our blessed Lady," the 9th 
is as follows : — 

" Hail, Mary, Lady and Mistress oe the 
" World, to whom all power has been given 
" both in Heaven and Earth." — p. 206. 

I will not go on ; I will not wound the feel- 
ings of my Protestant readers, by producing 
any more of this disgusting, this polluting trash. 
But I call on Dr. Kelly, or any other apologist 
of your Church; above all, on Dr. Milner, by 
whose authority these abominations profess to 
be set forth for the edification of the " Faithful 
" of the Midland District," to produce, if he can, 
some lurking preposition, as in the former in- 
stance, some potent particle, which may rescue 
those who use them, and especially the Aposto- 
lic Vicar, who has sanctioned the use of them, 
from the charge of direct and most atrocious 
blasphemy. 

Yet this is the religion, which we are gravely 
told by senators, statesmen, and reviewers, is 

c 



18 DR. DOYLE CHARGED WITH FALSIFYING 

similar to that pure faith which is taught in our 
own Evangelic Church. Dr. Doyle has even 
the confidence to say to us, " your belief on 
" this very subject, on the mediation of Saints, 
" is substantially the same as ours ; your prac- 
" tice should be the same; your language is 
"precisely the same." " Hear it," says he, # 
" from the tongue of one of your most learned 
" bishops. - Montague, Antid. p. 20, says; 6 1 
" 6 do not deny but the Saints are mediators, 
" * as they are called, of prayer and interces- 
" 6 sion ; they interpose with God by their 
" * supplications, and mediate by their prayers." 7 

To this assertion of Dr. Doyle I give the 
most direct and indignant contradiction. Bishop 
Montagu's words are shamefully garbled by 
him ; two scraps of sentences, which occur at a 
distance from each other, are torn from their 
respective contexts, and pinned together, to 
produce the appearance of the author's saying 
the very contrary to what his whole treatise 
expressly teaches. 

In a former part of this treatise,f Montagu 
had expressly condemned not only the practice 
of your Church, in respect to the worship of 
creatures, calling it, in plain terms, impious, 

* Letters of J. K. L. p. 279. 
f Ricardi Montacutii Antidiatribae, 1625, pp. 13, 19, 20, 21. 



A PASSAGE IN BISHOP MOUNTAGU. J 9 

but also its doctrine. In the passage which Dr. 
Doyle makes the subject of his artifice, he 
says, that " to call the Saints mediators and 
" intercessors is what he never can admit, 
" except in a modified and indirect sense. I 
" would not deny," says he, " that they are 
" mediators of prayer and intercession, as you 
" call it ; but then it is by praying in a body 
" for the whole body of the Church, (universim 
" universos). Belonging as they do to that 
" community, they are solicitous for, and strive 
" to promote, its welfare : and they remember 
'* well that the Church on earth is yet militant. 
" But shew me, if you can, that they are mediators 
"for me, or you, or any other individual who is 
" unknown to them." It is in the sense which 
has been here explained, that he afterwards says 
" they interpose with God by their supplica- 
" tions, and mediate by their prayers." Then 
in the very next page he adds, " I will now 
" declare to you what my opinion is in this 
" question, and I entreat you to examine what 
" I shall advance by the judgment of the ancient 
" fathers, and the practice of the primitive 
" Church. The Saints, as we call them, being 
" loosed from the bands of their bodily prison, 
" enjoy the beatific Vision of God in the highest 

c 2 



20 DR. DOYLE CHARGED WITH FALSIFYING 



<( Heaven, though not so completely and per- 
" fectly, as they will enjoy it, after the resurrec- 
" tion of the just shall be consummated. They 
" are assured of their own eternal salvation, and 
" are anxious to forward the salvation of us, who 
" are still tossed about amidst the storms and 
" perils of temptation. Of their charity and 
" their power in praying to him in the name of 
" Jesus Christ, no one, as far as I know, will 
" utter a doubt. But it is absolutely ridiculous 
" to deduce from hence, as you of the Church 
" of Rome do, that the Saints are to be invoked 
" by us, unless it be first made to appear that 
" they are thoroughly acquainted with all that 
" is going on among men. For, towards that 
" which is unknown, as, according to the pro- 
" verb, there is no desire (ignoti nulla cupido), 
" so neither can there be pity, affection, love, 
" or hatred. Prove, therefore, but this one 
" thing, that the Saints have knowledge of our 
" circumstances — prove that real supplicatory 
" communication with them (TrporsvrsvZiv), in an 
" ordinary way, is, at least, possible, and all 
" will be easy, we will make no difficulties 
" about their intercession, and our calling on 
" them for it. But if you cannot do this, (and 
£C I know that neither you, nor any of your 



A PASSAGE IN BISHOP MOUNTAGU. 21 

" party ever will,) what is it but downright 
" folly, or rather madness, to leave certainties 
" for uncertainties? to depart from Christ 
" Jesus, the all powerful, the all knowing, 
" the all merciful, and have recourse to the 
" Saints, to labour to engage their pity, who are 
" indeed full of ardent charity and in favour 
" with God, but in as much as they are ignorant 
" of what concerns us, are of course utterly un- 
" acquainted with the miseries from which we 
" seek relief?" 

I have given this passage at length, that the 
value of Dr. Doyle's citation may be justly 
appreciated. That Divine enjoys a great cele- 
brity among the persons of his own communion ; 
he has been distinguished, in and out of the 
British Senate, with the highest panegyrics on 
his talents and his honour. He must now submit 
to be addressed in a different tone, to be called 
on, before the public, either to disclaim the 
letters of J. K. L. which he has only not avowed, 
or to defend himself against the charge, which I 
hereby scruple not to advance against him, of 
shameful, palpable, deliberate fraud. # 

* I might strengthen the evidence against him, if I thought 
it necessary, by adducing proof of his similar practices on por- 
tions of Dr. Mountagu's English Treatise on the " Invocation 
" of Saints." But I spare my readers and myself that trouble. 



22 



HONOUR PAID TO IMAGES. 



On the next particular, that of 

" HONOUR PAID TO IMAGES/' 

I shall take but brief notice of the matter 
given in evidence. 

Dr. Kelly tells us that " Roman Catholics 
" consider Images as possessing not the least 
" sense, or intelligence ; and that the honour, or 
" respect, given to pictures and images, has 
"reference only to the character represented; 
" that such images may be useful in reminding 
" them of circumstances connected with reli- 
" gious duties; but that they attach no impor- 
" tance to them beyond that" — Commons, p. 241. 

That this is not quite in accordance with the 
language and decrees of Councils on this subject, 
is plain from what I have said in my letters to 
you, pages 88, 89, and needs not to be here 
repeated. 

But I may be permitted to ask, if the im- 
portance of images be indeed so trifling, how it 
happens, that Dr. Milner, as Vicar Apostolic of 
the Midland District of England, thought it 
necessary to apply to the See of Rome, and 
that the Holy See thought fit by a brief dated 
27th of June, 1814, to accede to his application, 
for a plenary indulgence to all within his 
spiritual jurisdiction, who, on certain prescribed 



MIRACULOUS IMAGES. 



23 



days, " being penitent, and having confessed, 
" and received the holy communion, shall de- 
" voutly visit, from the first vespers to the setting 
" of the sun, an image of the most Holy Heart of 
" Jesus exposed in a church or public chapel, and 
" shall there pray for the concord of Christian 
" princes, and the extirpation of heresies ; which 
" said plenary indulgence shall be applicable 
■A also, by the mode of suffrage, to the souls of 
" the faithful deceased ?" # 

Permit me also to ask, how we are to under- 
stand the particular and pre-eminent devotion 
paid to certain images in preference to others ? 
Especially to miraculous images ? Images, 
which, as having at some time been the instru- 
ments, or media, of supernatural effects, are 
expected to repeat their prodigies, and are 
resorted to with much confidence and veneration 
accordingly. 

These are not merely vulgar preferences, but 
are authorized by the approbation of the highest 
quarters. Favourite images are at Rome an 
incalculable source of wealth to the fortunate 
clergy of the Churches in which they stand. 
The following incident was, three or four years 
ago, of much notoriety to those sojourners 



* " Devotion and Office of Holy Heart/' &c. p". 486. 



24 



BAMBINO OF ARA CELL 



at Rome, who made any inquiry into the 
state of opinions and practices in that city, 
and were not wholly engrossed by antiquarian 
trifling. 

A Bambino (or infant Saviour) belonging to 
the Church of Ara Celi, in Rome, was in great 
request for the purpose of procuring an easy 
delivery to pregnant ladies. A certain Marchesa 
applied for the use of this image at her own 
house, which was readily granted to her. 
The Bambino, having performed its function 
very successfully, was sent home (as was 
imagined) with a handsome offering, in acknow- 
ledgment of its assistance. It happened, 
however, that in the middle of the following 
night a most tremendous and unusual knocking 
was heard at the great Western Door of the 
Church, and on the Sacristan's going to inquire 
the reason of it, he was answered, that the 
Bambino was at the door. On unlocking it, 
sure enough the Bambino was there ! and no 
sooner had it gained admission, than it went 
straightforward to its proper niche, tumbled 
the false Bambino (for such it was) with indig- 
nation to the ground, and replaced itself in its 
accustomed station. I need not add, that an 
order was immediately made by the proper 
authorities, that the Bambino should never go 



HOLY VIRGIN OF ANCONA. 



25 



again, even to ladies of the highest quality, 
without being attended by an officer of the 
Church. 

But it is not merely the Clergy of the private 
churches, who sanction the peculiar honour due 
to certain images; the Popes themselves are 
in the habit of encouraging it by the highest 
spiritual privileges. 

The miracles which were wrought by (shall I 
say ? or on ? or in ?) certain images of the Virgin, 
at the time of the irruption of the French into 
Italy in 1796, are a matter of recent history 
too notorious to need much detail. The earliest 
in action of all these miraculous images was 
the great image of the Virgin in the Cathe- 
dral of Ancona. The Abbe - Vincent Alber- 
tini, himself an Anconitan, and professor of 
eloquence at Fermo, published in the year 1820 
( with permission ) " an historical and moral 
" picture of the invasion of Italy in 1796, 
" and of the miraculous winking, at the same 
" epoch, of the eyes of the holy image of the 
" most Holy Virgin Mary, worshipped in the 
" Cathedral Church of Ancona." A brief ac- 
count of this work is given in the " Pieces Justi- 
" ficatives" of the second volume of De Pot- 
ters Life of Scipion de Ricci, Bishop of Pistoia, 
p. 362, 3. We are there informed, that the 
miracle first occurred on the 25th of June, 



26 



IMAGE OF VIRGIN AT ANCONA 



1796, at the very time when the news of the 
defeats of the French in Germany, and the 
higher Italy, was spread through the country. 
The professor of eloquence, referring to this 
occasion, makes the following very appropriate 
address to his countrymen. " The angels," 
says he, " who in the heights of the empyrean, 
" worship their exalted Mistress, these very 
u angels, to whom it is not permitted to direct 
" a single glance to her face, envied in some 
" sort your lot." But, whatever might be the 
feelings of the angels, certain it is, that " the 
" whole population of Ancona ran to this 
" image of the Virgin, and gave the most 
" sincere and unequivocal signs of penitence, 
" joy, and devotion. The Cardinal Bishop 
" Ranuzzi shewed himself among the most 
" eager." By his order there was published a 
true relation of the affair, which was known to 
24,000 eye-witnesses, and authenticated by 
legal inquiries. An inscription was engraven in 
stone, and placed in the Cathedral, to perpetu- 
ate the memory of this unheard of prodigy. 
*« On the 25th of Nomber, 1796, the process 
" was brought to a close, drawn out with the 
" utmost rigour of form." The Pope instituted 
a pious f raternity to honour the image, under the 
name of the Sons and Daughters of Mary. 

The author further tells us, that on the day 



CROWNED BY PIUS VII. 



after the first miracle, when a solemn proces- 
sion was made in its honour, the Virgin did 
nothing but open, and close, and turn her eyes 
on all sides, to the indescribable delight of the 
people, who absolutely wept for joy. On the 
26th of June, 1800, and on the 15th of August, 
1817,, similar processions took place ; and on 
the 13th of May, 1814, Pius VII. in 'person, 
crowned the miraculous image, an event which 
was consecrated by an inscription. He fixed 
the annual feast of the image for the second 
Sunday in the same month, and attached to it 
the power of gaining a plenary Indulgence. So 
many, indeed, were the Indulgences, both 
plenary, and partial, which were granted by 
Pius VI. and his successor to this Image, that 
Albertini is afraid of being tedious, if he should 
recount them. 

It would, however, be great injustice to the 
other Images of the Virgin Mary in Italy, to 
suppose, that they continued idle, while their 
illustrious sister at Ancona was thus delighting 
the good people of that city. Far from it : at 
Rome, at Civita Vecchia, atMacerata, at Ascoli, 
at Frascati, &c, &c, the Madonnas were every 
where on the alert, and there was an absolute 
rivalry and emulation in winking among these 
holy images. A volume is now before me, en- 



28 



OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF 



titled " Official Memoirs of the Juridical Ex- 
" animation into the Authenticity of the 
" Miraculous Events, which happened at Rome 
" in the years 1796-7, including the Decree of 
" Approbation." London, Keating and Brown, 
1801. The Italian edition of these memoirs 
appeared " with the official approbation and per - 
" mission of the master of the Sacred Palace of 
" the Apostles" Pius VI. not only instituted the 
juridical proceedings, and sent these " digested 
" memoirs , ' in due form, to the Prince Bishop 
of Hildesheim, but also granted an annual mass, 
with an office, for all the Clergy of Rome, on 
the 9th of July ; which grant, as well as 
another for an Indulgence, was confirmed and 
extended by Pius VII. It is quite impossible, 
therefore, to find a better instance for our 
purpose. 

One or two specimens of these miracles will 
enable us to form a proper judgment of the 
whole ; for, to say the truth, there is but little 
variety in the operations of the several images. 

Father Christopher da Vall^pietra, Lecturer 
of Theology in the Capuchin Convent in Rome, 
testifies (p. 126.) on oath, that 4 4 he had made the 
" science of optics his particular study ; that he 
" went on Sunday the 17th of July, 1796, to the 
" Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas, for the 



MIRACULOUS IMAGES OF THESE DAYS. 29 

" purpose of seeing the picture of the blessed 
" Virgin of Guadalupe placed in that Church 
that, " after reconnoitring the exact and ordinary 
" position of the pictorial eyes, he fixed upon a 
" situation sufficiently near to observe the 
" smallest occurrence, and there he made his 
" observations : that he had never seen the 'picture 
" before, and therefore could not be suspected of 
" any prevention in its favour;" (Is it possible 
to conceive more satisfactory proof of the wit- 
ness's perfect sincerity ?) " that he continued 
" his prayers with his eyes fixed on the ground, 
" that they might be more fresh and certain, 
" waiting for the moment to observe the miracle, 
" as soon as he should receive notice from the 
" general acclamations of the people." It was 
not long before he heard a general cry, " See, 
" see, behold the Virgin !" then quickly raising 
his eyes, " I saw," says he, " the laws of nature 
" suspended ; artificial eyes painted on canvass 
" opening; the superior eyelids gradually and 
" majestically ascending, so as to leave the entire 
" pupils, and the surrounding white clearly vi- 
" sible. They remained open at least the space 
" of four seconds, and afterwards with the same 
" slowness and majesty descended, and took 
" their prior position." — " Each of the spec- 
" tators, moved with the spectacle, as we may 



30 



OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF 



" easily suppose, burst into tears, and some- 
" times into acclamations of joy, in acknow- 
" ledgments of the favours received" (a most 
exemplary instance of pious gratitude! for 
the only favour recorded, is that of being- 
permitted to see the white of the Virgin's 
eyes) ; " or manifested marks of sincere repen- 
" tance and compunction. It was a most edi- 
" fying spectacle, to see the lively and simple 
" faith of these good Christians, who, as soon 
" as the miracle ceased, would begin to invoke 
" the most tender of mothers in these terms, 
" ' Most holy Mother, permit us to see the pro- 
" e digyonce more ;' and the Holy Virgin, full of 
" goodness and condescension, would hear their 
(t prayers and grant them this consolation, by 
<c again opening and shutting her eyes" 

Similar exclamations identifying the Virgin 
with her Images occur in every page.* But I 
have chosen this instance in preference toothers, 

* In p. 61, we meet with the following passage. 

Ci The witness (Alexander Clementi) was present at an 
" event by no means uncommon on similar occasions. A 
" robust young man, unknown to the witness, whose appear - 
V ance seemed to speak him a mechanic, with an instantaneous 
" emotion, as soon as he observed the miracle, threw himself on 
" his knees in the midst of the people, and exclaimed, Most 
a holy Virgin Mary ! Thou hast been the means of my soul's Sal- 
u vation ; without this grace I must have been fast.*' 



PICTURE OF THE VIRGIN BY HERSELF. 31 

which had the sworn attestations of persons of 
much higher rank, in particular of the " Mar- 
" quis Paul del Buffalo, General Administrator 
" of the Lotteries in the Pope's States;" " His 
" Grace the Duke of Lante della Rovere Vaini;" 
" the most illustrious Marchionesses Barbara 
" Palombara Massimi, and Maria Resta della 
" Torre;" ''his Eminence Cardinal Romualdo 
" Braschi Onesti, Nephew of Pius VI. the then 
" reigning Pope;' " the most illustrious and 
" most Rev. the Bishop of Isauria, Consultor 
" of the sacred congregations of the Holy Office, 
" and of the Index, Examinator of the Bishops;" 
" the most illustrious and most Rev. Prelate 
" Julius Gabrielli, a Roman Senator, Apostolic 
" Protonotary, and actual Secretary of the Sa- 
" cred Congregation of the Council," &c. &c. 
I have chosen, I repeat, the instance attested 
by the worthy Capuchin in preference to all 
these, not because the facts in his case were 
more remarkable than in the others, nor even 
because of his skill in optics, but because of the 
very peculiar and eminently distinguished cha- 
racter of the picture. It is, in short, a copy of 
an original by the blessed Virgin herself! My 
readers must not startle at this intimation, for it 
rests on undoubted evidence, and has received 
the full assent and approbation of all the au- 



32 PICTURE OF THE VIRGIN 

thorities at Rome. I will subjoin, verbatim, 
the account given of it in these " Official Me- 
" moirs." — e< Every trait in the countenance 
" seems to breathe the most tender goodness, 
" and to recal to our minds the striking miracle 
" to which its owes its origin, and which was 
" effected at Mexico, where it has been the 
" means of rendering the Church of Guadalupe 
" very celebrated. In a word, it presents us 
" with an exact 'portrait of the Virgin Mary, 
" which in some manner may be esteemed the 
" work of her hands, according to the miracle 
" which I shall here briefly relate. 

" This Mother of Mercies having ordered 
" Giandiego di Quauhtitlan to gather upon the 
" Tepajacao," (what a soft but irresistible air of 
truth breathes from these transatlantic appel- 
latives !) "some roses and other flowers which 
" she had miraculously produced on the spot, 
" she condescended to arrange them herself 
" on a coarse piece of canvass, the property 
" of her devoted servant, (Giandiego di Quauh- 
" titlan,) and by a new miracle these flowers 
" imprinted the beautiful portrait which may 
" still be seen at Guadalupe, and which is care- 
" fully preserved there as a perpetual monu- 
" ment of this extraordinary favour of the Vir- 
" gin, and as an object of veneration for all 



MIRACULOUSLY PRODUCED BY HERSELF. 33 

" the inhabitants of the country. A few years 
" ago a virtuous Priest of the late Society of 
" Jesus," (what a mercy it is, that a Society whose 
Priests are so virtuous, and so considerate, is 
once more revived!) "animated with a holy 
" zeal for propagating among the faithful a due 
" respect and veneration towards this miracu- 
" lous portrait of the blessed Virgin, Mother of 
" God, made a present of a copy taken from 
" the original, by a capital artist of the modern 
" school, to the Church of St. Nicholas at Rome." 
Then follows a description of the portrait, with 
which I will not trouble my readers. I will 
only tell them, that those, who make haste, may 
yet perhaps procure, as I have done, at Messrs. 
Keating and Brown's, a copy of these "Official 
" Memoirs," where they will have (together 
with twenty-five others) an engraving of this 
authentic likeness of the Blessed Virgin, and may 
judge for themselves of " her original and 
** ravishing beauty." 

Of other instances I need not say much, 
though some of them are recommended by 
very considerable, and even permanent, effects 
wrought on the pictures themselves ; one, in 
particular, hanging in Mr. Pucci's nursery, by 
much additional beauty and liveliness of colour- 
ing, which still subsists, (p. 69.) and which, as 

D 



34 



WEEPING AND PERSPIRING IMAGES. 



is positively attested upon oath by Mr. Pucci 
himself, a gentleman of independent fortune, 
" was not given to it from fresh varnish, or 
from any art or skill of man." 

I have already said that there was not much 
variety in the action of these images; this remark, 
however, applies principally to those at Rome. 
In the provinces the case was different. At 
Torricella, for instance, "a torrent of tears was 
" observed running in a most miraculous manner 
" from the eyes of a statue carved in wood, and 
" representing the Blessed Virgin Mary, under 
" the title of our Lady delle Grazie. There 
" issued from her countenance at the same time 
" so profuse a perspiration, that not only the 
" Virgin's veil, but cloths applied by the faith- 
" ful, were completely moistened by the same." 
p. 217. Again, in the convent of St. Liberatus, 
at the foot of the Appennines, a similar ,£ mi- 
" raculous perspiration was observed on the 
" picture of the Patron Saint, which is kept 
" within an iron grate, and above his tomb." 
<' This perspiration was so copious, that besides 
" humecting the linen applied to wipe the face, it 
" moreover wetted the tomb that was underneath." 
p. 225. At Ancona, " the letters and narrative, 
" and the legal process, all go to prove that 
" stupendous and unparalleled prodigies have 



IMAGE CHANGING COLOUR AND BOWING. 35 



* £ been witnessed in the picture of St. Ann, who 
" has her daughter, the Virgin Mary, before her, 
is and who is teaching her to read. On the 26th of 
(i June, the people, who had flocked thither in 
" crowds, beheld the pictures of the Mother and 
" the Daughter turn their eyes towards the spec- 
<f tutors. In the mean time, the pupils 

appeared to glitter like the eyes of a living 
e< person." — p. 215-6. 

But the miracle, which strikes .me the most, 
is that which took place at Mercatello, in the 
instance of " a very antiquated picture of our 
" Lady delle Grazie, placed on an altar in the 
" collegiate church of that place. The counte- 
" nance assumed a brilliant tint, the eyes became 
" lively, and the lineaments, though scarcely 
" perceptible, which several ages had effaced, 
" again became distinct and visible. The coun- 
" tenance of the infant Jesus, which the Mother 
' 6 held in her arms, changed colour ; and several 
" times ivas the Divine Infant observed to bend 
" towards the glass which covered the picture, to 
" signify, as it were, how acceptable was the devotion 
" of the pious multitude that was present at the spec- 
" tacky I scarcely need to add, that all these 
statements are extracted from legal processes 
instituted in Episcopal, or other Ecclesiactical 
Courts, and duly certified as true. — p. 224. 

d2 



36 IMAGES WINKING. 

Still, with these few exceptions in the pro- 
vinces, the main occupation of the miraculous 
images was in winking. The effects of the 
miracles, as far as military operations were 
concerned, certainly did not answer the pious 
hopes of the people : the successes of the allies 
in Italy were very shortlived— the French 
again advanced, plundered the cities, wasted the 
country, massacred the faithful inhabitants ; and 
the miraculous images, meanwhile, were con- 
tented with winking at all these enormities. 

But vastly higher blessings resulted from 
them than any merely temporal advantages. 
" We shall here mention, once for all," I quote 
the Official Memoirs, " this other species of 
" general miracle, which was not proved in the 
" process, as it was a fact of general notoriety in 
" Rome : I mean the general conversion and 
<( change of manners, the spirit of repentance, 
" &c. Our ancestors have never beheld, and our 
" successors, it is probable, never will behold 
" the striking spectacle, which Rome exhibited 
u at this ever memorable epoch." " The sacred 
" names of Jesus and Mary were on every lip, 
" and seemed to make a feast for every heart. 
" You would meet at every step altars erected, where 
" the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God and 
s< man, was represented. Surrounding crowds on 



EFFECTS AT ROME. 



37 



" their knees were incessantly soliciting her favours, 
" or expressing their joy and gratitude for the 
" miracle repeated before them" " Rome was 
" then a second Paradise, and all that were not 
" strangers to the weakness of human nature 
" would have abundant reason to rejoice, could 
" but one half of this piety and zeal be per- 
ff petuated in a world like our's, of sin and 
" misery."*— pp. 40, 41, 42. 

Such is this very valuable and official state- 
ment of the regard paid at present to images in 
the Church of Rome. I beg my readers now 
to turn to Dr. Kelly's evidence on the subject 
cited by me above, page 394, and see how far 

* It is only fair to add the following extract, as proving that 
some permanent results have ensued from these miracles. 

u In the midst of all the miseries for which we had to 
" reproach ourselves before God, and for which we were 
" imploring his mercy under our accumulated tribulations, 
' ' Rome, to do her justice, has constantly cultivated, and care- 
u fully nourished, a most tender and special devotion to the 
" glorious Queen of Heaven, Mary, Mother of God. The un- 
" paralleled prodigies that have occurred during these latter times, 
" have rendered this devotion a duty of the strictest obligation ; 
" for it seems that we have thence acquired a new title to the 
u glorious appellation of adopted children of the Blessed Virgin." 

" Since the miracles, these paintings have been, and still 
" are, exhibited to the public eye in every street and in every 

square of the metropolis, and they have received a degree of 
u magnificence and ornament unknown to former ages." — p. 129. 



38 OFFICIAL MEMOIRS OF MIRACULOUS IMAGES, 

its accuracy is illustrated by what has been here 
detailed ; particularly as far as relates to 
Roman Catholics attaching " no importance to 
" them, beyond reminding them of circumstances 
" connected with religious duties." 

If it be said, that these " Memoirs" relate 
only to the practice of Italians, I must first 
- remind my readers of the sanction given to the 
whole by the injunctions of successive Popes ; 
and must then inform them, that such was the 
value ascribed to this work by the Roman 
Catholics of this kingdom, that in order to pro- 
cure a translation of it into English, there are 
the names not only of many of the distinguished 
lay families of that communion in England 
among the subscribers, but also of the four Irish 
Metropolitans, of a large portion of the suffragan 
Bishops, of three of the English Vicars Apostolic, 
of very many of the Clergy, especially of the 
Rev. J. Milner, F.S.A. Winton, for a dozen copies.* 

* In connection with this subject, I beg leave to subjoin the 
following Extract from the Declaration set forth by the Synod 
of i\rchbishops and Bishops held in Dublin 25th Jan. 1826. 

(c Catholics believe that the power of working miracles has 
"not been withdrawn from the Church of God. The belief, 
" however, of any particular miracle not recorded in the Word 
" of God, is not required as a term of Catholic Communion, 
" though there are many so strongly recommended to our belief, 
" that they cannot without temerity be rejected." p. 13. 



INDULGENCES. 



39 



My next subject is, I am sorry to say, the 
very tiresome one of 

INDULGENCES. 

And here I begin with acknowledging an 
inaccuracy in my former statement of Dr. 
Doyle's language. 

I have said in note, page 164, of my Letters 
to you, "that Dr. Doyle, in the course of his 
" examination" (before the Committee of the 
House of Commons) " never once intimates, that 
" the temporal punishment, remitted by an 
" indulgence, extends to the pains of purgatory." 
This is inaccurate. In writing it, I had not 
adverted to a previous question which was pro- 
posed to him on this subject, and which was 
disjoined from the rest by several intervening 
particulars. In answer to that first question he 
said that a person " by gaining an indulgence 
" is thereby assisted and relieved from such 
" temporal punishment, as God in his justice 
" might inflict upon him, either in this life, or 
" hereafter in purgatory, previous to his admis- 
" sion into Heaven."* 

But while I freely acknowledge my own 
inaccuracy, and would as freely acquit Dr. 
Doyle (if I could do so with sincerity) of all 

* .Commons., p. 193. 



40 



DOCTOR DOYLE's ILLUSORY 



purpose to deceive in this particular, I feel 
myself compelled to add, that this is very far 
from being the case. 

The Committee, resuming their examination 
on this point, (the Report of which occupies two 
entire folio pages,) desires Dr. Doyle to " de- 
" scribe the nature of an indulgence." This 
he does at great length ; but in the course of 
his description not one syllable drops from 
him, which would imply that the temporal 
punishment of sin remitted by an indulgence 
extends at all beyond this life. The reason on 
which he grounds the infliction of such punish- 
ment, when actually suffered after the guilt of 
sin is remitted, not only does not apply to pur- 
gatory, but seems even to exclude all consider- 
ation of it, for it is inflicted, he says, " in order 
" that God may show to the faithful, at large, who 
" often are scandalized by the sin, his justice as well 
" as his mercy" I must here also again notice, 
that when the Committee expressly informed 
him, that they considered the temporal penalties 
of sin, of which he had spoken, to be such as 
had their effect solely in this life, he not only does 
not undeceive them, but says that which could 
only tend to confirm them in their error. But on 
these particulars, as I have already remarked* on 

* Letters to Butler, p. l65 3 note. 



DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 



41 



them, I will not now enlarge. I will only add, 
that in his examination before the Lords three 
days afterwards, he still keeps the remission of 
the pains of Purgatory, and of all punishment 
beyond this world, nay, of all divinely inflicted 
punishment whatsoever, entirely out of sight. 
"The nature of an Indulgence," says he, "is 
" a remission of the temporal punishment which 
H may be supposed due to the sin after the guilt 
" is remitted by Almighty God, through the 
" Sacrament of Penance." And so successful 
is he for a time in this attempt, that their Lord- 
ships find it necessary on a subsequent day, to 
ask him, whether he assents to the statement of 
others, that Indulgences may have effect in 
remitting punishments imposed by God.* 

Meanwhile, the Prelates, who were examined 
after him before the Commons, pursue for the 
most part a very similar course. Dr. Murray, 
the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, 
being asked " What is the doctrine of the 
" Catholic Church with respect to Indul- 
" gences?" answers as follows; " The autho- 
" rities of the Catholic Church have, in virtue 
" of the power of the keys committed to them, 
" a power to remit a certain portion of the 
" temporal punishment due to sin, after the 

* Lords, p. 315. 



42 



doctor Murray's illusory 



" guilt of sin has been remitted ; but in no ease 
i( can Indulgences have effect, till the person is 
"first justified and reconciled with God." # 

Here we may perceive that Dr. Murray not 
only abstains from all mention of Purgatory, 
and even of divine punishments in this life, but 
moreover insinuates that the Church does not 
claim a power of remitting all the temporal 
punishments due to sin, after the guilt of it has 
been remitted, but only "a certain portion." 
It would be interesting to know, what that 
" certain portion" is ; and it would be still more 
interesting to learn, what course the Church of 
Rome would take with the Archbishop, if, 
instead of making this convenient insinuation 
before an Assembly of Heretics, he should 
venture to deny categorically, before the world, 
the power of the Church to grant a full remis- 
sion of all the temporal punishment of sin in 
such cases. 

He is afterwards asked more explicitly, what 
he considers to be the temporal punishment of 
sin ? and he cannot but answer, that it " may 
" be either in this world or in the next." To a 
further inquiry, " whether a priest of the 
" Roman Catholic Church by granting, or with- 
" holding an Indulgence, can avert or accelerate 

* Commons, p. 226\ 



DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 43 

" the wrath of God, as far as the temporary 
" punishment of sin is concerned ?" he answers, 
" that the authorities of the church can do so 
" by the power entrusted to them by God." 
But then he immediately shifts the question 
from the " wrath of God" to the penances im- 
posed by man. " The grant of an Indulgence," 
says he, " is accompanied, as a condition for 
" obtaining it, by an injunction to perform some 
" act of piety ; it is a change of punishment from 
" one species of austerity to another more 
" suitable to human infirmity, a kind of commu- 
" tation, which commutation is admitted in the 
" canons of the Protestant Church ; it is ad- 
mitted, and laid down in Burn's Ecclesiastical 
" Law, that there are such things as commuta- 
" tions of penance in the Protestant Church." 
—p. 229. 

Xow, if this " commutation" be, (as it unde- 
niably is in the English church) merely a 
change from one humanly inflicted penance to 
another, it has nothing to do with the " wrath 
" of God," the point on which Dr. Murray's 
answer was required by the committee. But, 
if it were really intended to apply to the ques- 
tion, then Dr. Murray is pleased to say, that 
an Indulgence is a " change of punishment," 
from that which God inflicts, to another imposed 



44 



doctor Murray's illusorv 



by the pope, which is " more suitable to human 
infirmity" ! The truth, however, is, that the 
very name, Indulgence, excludes the notion of 
commutation; and, accordingly, Bellarmine* 
says, that " it is universally agreed, that the 
4 ' work enjoined for gaining the Indulgence, 
" need not be such as to compensate the 
" punishment due ; for in that case, it would 
" not be a remission, but a commutation, or 
" redemption." 

But the Committee are a little more sharp- 
sighted than usual in their examination of Dr. 
Murray on this point, and will not let him slip 
through their hands thus easily. They accord- 
ingly repeat their question in a form, which they 
doubtless thought would admit of no subter- 
fuge. " Can a priest of the Roman Catholic 
" Church, by granting or withholding an Indul- 
" gence, accelerate the course of a departed 
" soul through Purgatory, or retard it ?" Cun- 
ning, however, as they are, they are no matchfor 
this Archbishop. He answers in a manner, which 
leaves them almost as much in the dark respect- 
ing the object of their inquiry, as when they 
began with him. " It is our belief, that prayers 
" in this world are of use to accelerate the pas- 
" sage of the soul in Purgatory to future bliss ; 

*De Indulg. 1. i. c. 12. 



DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 



45 



" Indulgences, however, cannot reach beyond the 
" present life, except as far as God may be pleased, 
" through the merits of Christ, to accept our 
" prayers for the release of the soul in Purgatory '." 
If the answer had stopped here, it would have 
seemed to have been tolerably clear, and to 
have denied every thing like efficacy in Indul- 
gences, beyond the prayers which may accom- 
pany them. But then it would have been 
downright heresy, and would have fallen under 
the censure pronounced against Luther by Leo 
X. Care, therefore, is taken by the Archbishop 
in what follows, to rescue himself from this 
predicament, and at the same time to avoid say- 
ing anything which shall apprise his learned 
hearers of the ingenious expedient he is adopt- 
ing : ' ' The church," says he, (< has no power, 
" by right, to grant an Indulgence for the relief 
" of souls in Purgatory, except by way of suf- 
i( frage or prayer ; but our prayers, offered 
" through Christ for that purpose, are con- 
" sidered to be efficacious in such a degree as 
" is known only to God." 

And here we have again occasion to recur to 
Dr. Doyle. The Committee of the Lords, having 

* See Letters to Butler, p. 163. 



46 



DOCTOR DOYLE'S 



already received that prelate's account of ef the 
<c nature of an Indulgence/' and finding it to fall 
so very far short even of this statement of Dr. 
Murray, think it necessary to call upon him, 
in a subsequent examination, to give them his 
opinion more explicitly. His answer is worthy 
of attention. 

Q. " Dr. Murray has said, that a Bishop 
" or Priest,* granting an Indulgence, or with- 
" holding it, can accelerate or retard the wrath 
" of God, as against a sinner; do you agree in 
« that ?" 

A. " Not the wrath, but the punishment, 
" rather of God, as against a sinner. The 
" Christian, by gaining an Indulgence, can 
" apply, or offer that Indulgence by way of 
" suffrage, or in the nature of a prayer to God, 
" that God would be pleased to shorten the 
" term of punishment, which an individual or 
" individuals in purgatory should otherwise 
" undergo ; it is in that sense, and no other, 
" that Dr. Murray must have spoken, for our 
" doctrine is very plain, and known equally well, 
" or perhaps better, to Dr. Murray than to me : 

* I quote these words, as given in the question, though there is 
in them a manifest inaccuracy. A priest cannot grant an Indul- 
gence ; nor can a bishop, except for a short period. 



ERRONEOUS STATEMENTS. 



47 



" Indulgences can be applied to souls in purgatory 
" only by way of suffrage, that is, as a prayer 

Now, would not any one imagine, from this 
use of the words, that suffrage and prayer are 
synonymous, or, at most, that suffrage is a 
species of prayer ? whereas, in truth, prayer is 
only one of three species of suffrage. And thus 
the Archbishop and his friend hope to ride 
quietly off, without further observation, on an 
opinion which has been maintained by some 
few divines, namely, that Indulgences are effi- 
cacious only " by way of suffrage/' It would 
be hardly worth while to stop them, if they 
had not thought fit to say, " It is our belief," 
" our doctrine. " But this renders a few more 
words necessary, before we part with them. 
For, if by " our belief, our doctrine," they 
mean merely to express, each in the fulness of 
episcopal authority, that such is the belief, or 
doctrine, of himself individually, it is clear they 
are cajoling the committee, whose inquiry is 
solely directed to the belief and doctrine of 
their church. If, on the other hand, they mean, 
as it would be reasonable to suppose, the belief 
and doctrine of their church, they affirm, what 
they cannot but know to be utterly unfounded. 
For they must know perfectly well, that the 

* Lords, 315. 



48 



ERRONEOUS STATEMENTS 



opinion, which they ascribe to their church, 
would be held in abomination by the great ma- 
jority of divines who have treated on the sub- 
ject, and is in direct contradiction to the Papal 
Bulls by which Indulgences are granted. It is 
in short, almost, or quite, heretical ; and, as the 
Class-Book of Maynooth expressly says, it is 
hardly possible to rescue it from the censure 
pronounced by Pius V. and Gregory XIII. on 
one of the proscribed propositions of Baius.* 

Another of the prelates examined on this sub- 
ject by the Committee of the House of Com- 
mons is Dr. Oliver Kelly, Roman Catholic 
Archbishop of Tuam ; he is pleased to cut down 
the doctrine of Indulgences still lower. He de- 
clares, with perfect gravity, that what is meant 
by the temporal punishment of sin remitted by 
an Indulgence, is no other than the penance 
enjoined : " You say the Church has the power 
" of removing the temporal punishment due to 
" sin ; by that you mean the 'penance enjoined?" — 
" Yes."! And with this statement the Com- 
mittee are quite contented. They do not trou- 
ble him with a single inquiry, to elicit the rea- 
sons of the difference of his statement from that 
of his Right Reverend brethren, as well as from 
the common notions of the world respecting 

* Delahogue de Poen. 332. f Commons, 242. 



OF DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES. 



49 



Roman Indulgences. Apparently, they do not 
even perceive any difference ; or, at least, they 
are not so impolite as to hint it to the parties 
themselves. In truth, their inquisitorial func- 
tions are uniformly displayed in the mildest 
and blandest manner, while they have a Roman 
Catholic divine before them ; but no sooner is 
a presbyter of the Established Church " called 
" in," than he is subjected to the most rigid, I 
had almost said, vexatious cross-examination.* 
I am glad that it was so ; for it has only con- 
tributed to make the triumph of truth the more 
illustrious. But if the Honourable and Right 

* I must refer to one specimen, chiefly on account of the ad- 
mirable firmness and dignity, with which Mr. Phelan main- 
tained his own ground, and corrected his Right Hon. inquisitor. 
See Report of Commons, 534 — 540. In the course of this 
cross-examination, we meet with one question, which proves 
that an acquaintance with the doctrine or liturgy of his own 
church forms no part of the qualifications necessary to constitute 
a parliamentary investigator of the difference of the two creeds. 
" Is there not preserved in the Collect on one of our Saint-days, 
a request that the Angels may pray for us?' Of this question, 
I scruple not to avow my firm conviction, that it was not the 
spontaneous growth of the Right Hon. gentleman's own mind, 
but was planted there by some foreign hand : — it was, probably, 
part of the brief which he received from his Roman Catholic 
clients. How much more of the knowledge displayed in that 
Committee proceeded from the same source, I do not presume 
to guess. 

E 



50 REAL DOCTRINE OF INDULGENCES 



Honourable gentlemen, who formed this Com- 
mittee, can look back with perfect self-com- 
placency on the recorded difference of treat- 
ment observed towards the ministers of the 
two churches respectively, I do not much envy 
them their feelings. 

But to return to the matter in hand. Having 
exhibited the several statements given by the 
Roman Catholic prelates of the doctrine re- 
specting Indulgences, I will now inform any 
member of the Committee, who may do me the 
honour of reading these pages, what is really 
the doctrine on this subject taught by the Ro- 
man Catholic church, — nay, taught authorita- 
tively at the present day by that church in Ire- 
land, in the very country where these prelates 
preside. I shall do this, not in my own words, 
but in the words of the Class-Book of May- 
nooth. They are as follows — 

" Indulgences remit, even in God's forum, the 
" debt of temporal punishment which would else 
" remain to be satisfied, either in this life or in 
" purgatory, after the remission of the guilt of 
" sin; they derive their efficacy from the treasure 
' " of 'the Church, which treasure consists, prima- 
" rily, of the merits and satisfactions of Christ; 
" for as a single drop of his blood was sufficient 
" for the redemption of the sins of the whole 



TAUGHT AT MAYNOOTH. 



51 



" world, there remains an infinite hoard of his 
" merits at the disposal of the church for the 
" service of her children ; and, secondarily, of 
" the merits and satisfactions of the Virgin Mary 
H and other Saints, who underwent far severer 
u sufferings than their own sins required ; which 
" superabundance, and almost superfluity , of suffer- 
" ings of their s, forms a sort of bank or deposit, 
" out of ivhich the Church may make disbursements 
<f for the common benefit of the faithful in the icay 
" of payment (via solutionis) for the punishments 
" or satisfactions due from them."* 

" There is no reason why this should not be 
" done for the dead as well as for the living ; 
* the church offering to God, by the method of 
" compensation (per modum compensationis) 
" payment for them out of the satisfactions of 
" Christ and the Saints ."f 

All this, I say, is taught as the only sound 
doctrine in the Class-book at Maynooth ; and, 
in saying so, I hereby defy all the Irish Roman 
Catholic prelates (whatever they may have 
sworn before the Lords, or affirmed before the 
Commons) to contradict me. 

* " Hsec satisfactionum affluentia penes Ecclesiam manere 
" merito censetur, instar alicujus depositi, quod in publicam 
" fideliuni utilitatem impendi possit, via solutionis pro illorum 
" debitis." — Delahogue de Pocnitentia, p. 334. 

t Ibid. p. 351. 

E 2 



52 



BULL OF JUBILEE. 



To illustrate and exemplify the accuracy of 
this doctrine, I subjoin some passages of the 
Bull of " Indiction for the Universal Jubilee,' 
in last year. 

" During this year, which we truly call the 
" acceptable time, and the time of Salvation/ 
&c. " We have resolved, in virtue of the autho- 
" rity given to us by Heaven, fully to unlock 
" that sacred Treasure, composed of the merits, suf- 
" ferings, and virtues of Christ our Lord, and of 
" his Virgin Mother, and of all the Saints, which 
" the author of human salvation has entrusted to 
"our dispensation." " We proclaim that the 
" year of atonement and pardon, of redemption 
4( and grace, of remission and indulgence, is 
" arrived ; in which we know, that those bene- 
" fits which the old law, the messenger of 
" things to come, brought every fiftieth year 
" to the Jewish people, are renewed in a much 
" more sacred manner by the accumulation of 
" spiritual blessings, through Him by whom 
" came peace and truth." " During which year 
" of the Jubilee we mercifully give and grant in 
" the Lord a plenary indulgence, remission, and 
" pardon of all their sins, to all the faithful of 
" Christ, truly penitent and confessing their sins 
£< and receiving the holy communion, who shall 
" visit the churches of blessed Peter and Paul, 



BULL OF JUBILEE. 



53 



" &c, and shall pour forth their pious prayers 
" to God for the exaltation of the Church, the 
" extirpation of heresies,* concord of Catholic 
" princes, and the safety and tranquillity of Chris- 
" tian people." 

I will conclude with a passage which I ven- 
ture particularly to recommend to the attention 
of the Archbishops and Bishops, whose answers 
to the Parliamentary Committees we have just 
been contemplating. 

" But you, venerable brethren, Patriarchs, 
" Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, co-operate 
" with these our cares and desires." " To you 
" it belongs to explain with perspicuity the power 
" of Indulgences; what is their efficacy, not only 
" in the remission of the canonical penance, but also 
" of the temporal punishment due to divine justice 
"for sin ; and what succour is afforded out of this 
(t heavenly treasure, from the merits of Christ and 
u his Saints, to such as have departed real penitents 
" in God's love, yet before they had duly satisfied, 
" by fruits worthy of penance, for sin of com- 
" mission and omission, and are now purifying 

* In p. 187. of the former edition of my Letters to Mr. But- 
ler, the word heretics stands instead of heresies. It was so in 
the Newspaper from which I copied the extract I there gave. I 
have since obtained a copy of the <f Laity's Directory for 1825/* 
in which the Bull is given at length, 



54 JUBILEE DID NOT EXTEND TO IRELAND. 



" in the fire of purgatory, that an entrance may 
" be opened for them into their eternal country, 
" where nothing defiled is admitted. Courage 
"and attention, venerable Brethren; for some 
" there are, following that wisdom which is not 
" from God, and covering themselves under the 
" clothing of sheep, — under the usual pretence of 
" a more refined piety, are now sowing amongst the 
" people erroneous comments on this subject." 

Such is the language of the Bull, establishing 
the Jubilee of last year. But respecting this 
Jubilee a remarkable fact is discovered in the 
course of the examination of Dr. Magaurin, Ro- 
man Catholic bishop of Ardagh, before the 
Committee of the House of Commons. Q. 
" This is a year of Jubilee in the Roman Catholic 
" church?"— A. " I believe so" Q. " Do the 
" orders that have been issued from the Pope, 
" with respect to the celebration of that Jubilee 
" extend to Ireland?"— A. " No." Q. " Why is 
" Ireland excepted?" — A. ' ' I do not know."* 

This sounds very strange. The Bull is ad- 
dressed, " To all the faithful of Christ who shall 
" see these presents, health and apostolical bene- 
" diction." In the course of it, the Holy Father 
is pleased to say, " Let the earth hear the words 
" of our mouth, and let the whole world joyfully 

* Commons, p. 282. 



JUBILEE DID EXTEND TO IRELAND. 55 

" hearken to the voice of the priestly trumpet 
" sounding forth to God's people the Sacred 
ff Jubilee." And yet Ireland, the land of 
Saints, the strongest hold of pure Catholicity, 
Dr. Magaurin tells us, is, for some unknown rea- 
son, excepted ! Surely,when one considers the 
inestimable value of the great spiritual boon 
conferred in a Jubilee, an exclusion from all 
share in it is an infinitely greater hardship 
on that persecuted and oppressed people, than 
that Mr. O'Connell should not wear a silk 
gown, or Mr. Shiel be eligible to a seat in 
parliament. I was almost prepared, therefore, 
to see the zeal and energy of the revived Asso- 
ciation directed into a new channel; and instead 
of wasting their breath by hopelessly contending 
for temporal favours which have been so often re- 
fused them, vindicating at Rome their claims to 
an equal share of spiritual privileges with the 
rest of the faithful throughout the world. But 
Dr. Doyle, in his re-examination before the 
Lords, has let in a small portion of light on 
this matter. He tells us, with but very little 
consideration, I am sorry to observe, for the 
credit of his Right Reverend brother, that the 
orders from the Pope for the celebration of the 
Jubilee did extend to freland, — that Ireland was 
not excluded from a share in the benefits of that 



56 



JUBILEE. 



precious instrument by the Pope, but by their 
own bishops, who had reasons for their deci- 
sion: though one of the number, Dr. Magaurin 
thought fit to tell his examiners that he did not 
know them. 

All this, I repeat, is let out by Dr. Doyle in 
the following brief communication to the Lords. 
Q. " Has the Encyclical Letter of the Pope, 
" respecting the Jubilee to be held this year in 
" Rome, been published in Ireland ?" — A. "No; 
" we received it, but we did not think it proper to 
" publish it"* 

It is a little to be lamented, that the curiosity 
of their lordships did not extend so far as to 
ask, why the Roman Catholic prelates did not 
think proper to publish it. For, in the absence 
of all information on this subject, any plain man, 
who considers the invaluable blessing of which 
the people of Ireland were thus deprived by an 
act of their own hierarchy, must regard it as 
the most extraordinary, the most astounding, 
exercise of episcopal discretion ever heard of ; 
provided always, that the prelates believe the 
doctrine of the church to which they belong. 
The only imaginable reason, which occurs to one 
not in the secret, is this ; that it was thought 
convenient, with reference to the parliamentary 

* Lords, 315. 



MISTATEMENT BY DR. DOYLE. 



57 



examinations and discussions, which were about 
to ensue, that no such instrument as the Bull of 
Indiction should be adducible. 

There remains one minor point, which would 
not be worth remarking, except as it shews how 
far deserving of credit Dr. Doyle's statement 
is, whenever it suits him to extenuate the doc- 
trines or the practices of his church. Being 
asked " What is the utmost extent, in point of 
" duration, of an Indulgence ?" — he is pleased to 
answer, " I believe seven years ; there were 
" many fictitious or forged Indulgences (crowds 
" of which were carried about the world, and 
" which were not at all authentic) for, I believe, 
" a greater number of years ; but we do not 
" recognize, and have not, that I know of, ever 
" recognized any Indulgence for a 'period beyond 
" that of seven years, when time is at all 
" specified."* 

Now, in one of the common books of popular 
devotion, I find a distinct mention of Indul- 
gences of ten years ;| nay, in the Class Book 
at Maynooth, Indulgences of seven, twenty, 8$c. 
years are expressly recognized ;$ this $c. 
evidently admitting an indefinite number, ex- 



* Report of Commons, p. 195. 

"f Devotion, &c. of Sacred Heart, p. 365. 

X De Pcen. p. 342. 



58 ABSOLUTION IN CHURCH OF ROME 

cept that Indulgences of " many thousand years 
are there treated as most likely to be fictitious. 

I have now before me an engraved portrait of 
the Virgin Mary's foot, taken from her true 
shoe, recently published in Italy, conferring, by 
authority of John XXII. and Clement VIII. an 
Indulgence of three hundred years, on all who 
shall kiss it three times, and recite thereupon 
three Ave Marias. 

ABSOLUTION. 

The next subject on which I will remark, is 
the evidence given on the subject of Absolution. 

Dr. Doyle is asked by the Committee of the 
House of Commons,* " What is the doctrine of 
" the Roman Catholic church respecting Absolu- 
" tion ?" an inquiry which he answers thus : 

" The doctrine of the Roman Catholic church 
" is precisely the same as that of the Established 
" Church in this kingdom; so much so, that 
" the words of Absolution, which we use, are 
" precisely those put down in the Visitation of 
'/ the Sick in the Common Prayer Book, to be 
" used by a clergyman of the Established Church 
" when he visits a person who wishes to confess 
" his sins. Our doctrine then is, that the sinner, 
" feeling that he may in his lifetime have trans- 

* Report, p. 193. 



MISTATED BY DR. DOYLE. 



59 



" gressed the law of God, and being penitent 
" for it, acknowledges his fault to a priest, as to 
" a minister of God, and being sincerely sorry 
" within him for having so offended God, by 
" transgressing his law, the priest, by a power 
" derived from God, gives him absolution or 
■f pardon ; always requiring of him, that he do 
" every thing in his power by amendment of 
" life, to satisfy for his past offences, and if he 
" should have injured his neighbour in person, 
" character, or property, that he repair such 
" injury to the full extent of his power." 

I will here wave all remark on the different 
meaning with which the same form of words is 
used by our church, in the office of the " Visi- 
" tation of the Sick," and will only take the 
liberty of referring my readers to what I have 
said on this subject in pages 210 — 216 of my 
Letters to you. 

But, even if we used those words in the same 
sense as the ministers of the church of Rome, 
if we pronounced absolution as actually con- 
ferred by us, and not merely declared, still Dr. 
Doyle's assertion of the identity of the doctrine 
of the two churches in this particular, is so 
entirely inconsistent with the truth, that I 
cannot but give to it the most unqualified and 
indignant contradiction. Dr. Doyle knows 



60 ABSOLUTION OF CHURCH OF ROME 



perfectly well that, according to the church of 
Rome, absolution is the gracious effect wrought 
by the sacrament of Penance, of which sacra- 
ment the words of the priest, " I absolve thee," 
&c. are the form : that this sacrament is pro- 
nounced to be so essential to salvation, that no 
man can receive pardon for mortal sin com- 
mitted after baptism without it ; that not to 
have recourse to it once, at least, in every year* 
is itself a mortal sin; for no degree of penitence, 
no hatred of sin, no humbleness or brokenness 
of heart, no fervor of love towards the Almighty 
Being, whose law he has violated, no change of 
heart and life, will be accepted as true contrition 
without recourse to penance, in other words, 
without dependence on the priest ; above all he 
knows, what above all he was anxious to 
suppress, that a full and particular confession of 
every sin, with all the circumstances which may 
change its nature, must then be made ; that, at 
least, once in every year, therefore, every faithful 
son of the church, under the penalty of mortal 
sin, must, in the language of the Council of 
Trent, stand as a criminal before the priest's 
tribunal, and there await his sentence as the 
sentence of a divinely commissioned judge. 
Nay, Dr. Doyle also knows, that so little real 

* Yet Dr. Doyle talks of " his lifetime" 



MISTATED BY DR. DOYLE. 



61 



accordance is there between the two churches 
on this subject, that the only time when a 
special confession is not required as necessary 
for absolution by the church of Rome, is 
exactly that at which alone the same form of 
absolution* is prescribed indeed by the Church 
of England to be given, but after a special con- 
fession of sins, — namely, at the Visitation of 
the Sick. For thus does the Roman ritual 
enjoin, "If in the course of confession, or even 
" before it begin, the sick man's voice and speech 
"fail him, let the priest endeavour to become 
" acquainted, as far as possible, by nods and 
" signs, with the sins of the penitent, which 
" being known to him, whether generally or 
" specially, or even if the sick man shew the 
" desire of confessing, whether by himself, or by 
" others, he must be absolved." 

All this Dr. Doyle knows full well, and all 
this he has purposely withholden. Even when 
the Committee, astonished probably to find how 
harmless the bugbear of absolution appeared 

* It is right to add here a few words more, which the Roman 
Ritual requires to be used with this form ; "May the suffering 
" of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the Blessed Virgin 
u Mary and of all the Saints, whatever of good thou hast done, 
" and of evil thou hast endured, be to thee for remission of 
" sins, for increase of grace, and the reward of eternal life. 
" Amen." 



62 



MI STATEMENT OF DR. DOYLE. 



when stripped of its ideal horrors by their new 
oracle, yet not able at once to silence all their 
former prejudices, venture to ask, " Is there any 

difference between the doctrine of the Catholic 
H church and that of the Protestant church, 
" with respect to absolution ?f This most 
veracious divine, this witness, whose honour 
and integrity, as well as talents, have been so 
loudly applauded in the English House of Com- 
mons, scruples not to say, " / really know of 
" none!' Nay, even this is not all. With an 
affectation of candour more disgusting than all 
that has preceded, he adds, "I, am sure the 
*' Established Church requires, as we do, that 
" the person making a confession of his sin be 
" sorry or contrite for it ; the words which the 
" priest of the Established Church uses, are 
" precisely those which we use ; so I see no 
" difference between the one and the other." 

Surely an honest man may be pardoned if 
he feels, and if he expresses what he feels, 
some warmth of indignation on witnessing dis- 
ingenuousness so shameless, yet unhappily so 
successful : if, too, he avows the pain and 
mortification with which he has seen a Com- 
mittee of British senators voluntarily erecting 
themselves into a Board of Theological Inquiry, 
and yet incapable of eliciting the smallest spark 



CASES RESERVED TO THE POPE. 



63 



of true evidence on the most notorious, the 
most common-place, of all the corruptions of 
the church of Rome. 

Before I leave this part of Dr. Doyle's 
examination before the Commons, I must refer 
to another particular, which demands some 
consideration. 

Q. " Are there any cases reserved to the 
" special jurisdiction of the See of Rome 
" itself ?" A. " I believe not ; there is no case 
" whatever, that I know of , from which the Bishop 
" in this country has not the power to absolve. 
" How the Pope treats the matter in his own 
" territory, or in Italy, I cannot say." — p. 196. 

That the most learned prelate in Ireland 
should speak with so much uncertainty respect- 
ing a most important article of the powers of 
his own order, may well excite some surprise ; 
and this surprise is increased, when we refer to 
the following very strong passage in the 14th 
session, c. 7. (de casuum reservatione) of the 
Council of Trent. After stating that the absolution 
given by a priest, where he has no ordinary 
delegated authority, is invalid, the Council thus 
proceeds: " But it has been the judgment of 
" our most Holy Fathers, that it is of great 
" moment to Christian discipline, that from certain 
" more atrocious and grievous crimes no Absolution 
" should be given, except by the highest priests 



64 



CASES RESERVED TO THE POPE. 



" only ; whence the Popes, with good reason, 
*' and in conformity to the supreme authority 
" handed down to them in the church, have 
" derived their power of reserving some more 
<< grievous cases of crimes to their own peculiar 
' 6 judgment " 

Now the real force of these words is, not 
merely that the Popes have the power of 
reserving from time to time, if they think 
proper, certain cases to themselves; but that 
there is a standing reservation of certain cases, 
(especially of Heresy,) the origin and authority 
of which are here stated. This is clear not 
only from the language of the Council itself, 
but also from the ancient and notorious practice 
of the church of Rome, a practice which is 
distinctly recognized in the following passage 
of a brief of Pius VII. dated 27th of February, 
1809, and addressed to the cardinals, bishops, 
and capitulary vicars of France ; "We should 
" be sorry (and we would not even conjecture 
"such a thing except on very grave reasons) 
" that any of the bishops of France have excused 
"themselves from asking of the Holy See a 
" prolongation of these powers, from their 
" having embued themselves with the perverse 
" and infinitely dangerous opinion, that by virtue 
ie of their rights they were authorized to absolve and 
" dispense in all the cases which the ordinances of 



CASES RESERVED TO THE POPE-. 



65 



" councils, the decrees of the Sovereign Pontiffs , 
*' have generally reserved to the power of the 
ei Bishop of Rome, after the usage constantly 
t( followed even to this day in t he-Universal Church. 
"Let them examine, if (which God forbid) 
" they have arrogated to themselves these powers? 
" what are the outrages of which they have ren* 
" dered themselves guilty ?* 

Then follows an Indult granting to the Arch- 
bishop and Bishops of France, for a term of 
five years only, the following among other 
powers, that, as delegates of the Apostolic See^ and 
in every act making express mention of this Apos- 
tolic Indult, they may " absolve from heresy 
*' externally manifested, provided that it be not 
" a case of heretics setting forth (dogmatisant) 
*' their heresies publicly," (for no power is given 
them to absolve in such a case,) " from apostasy 
" from the faith, and from schism, after a suit- 
" able abjuration made,"&c. 

Upon this view of the doctrine, or dis- 
cipline of the Church of Rome, it is obvious 
to ask Dr. Doyle, whether he and his brethren, 
the Prelates of Ireland, have received from the 
Pope similar, I ought to say greater, powers ; for 
these, we see, expressly include a reservation. 

* " Correspondancc authentique de la Cour de Rome avec 
la France." — p. 159. 



66 INSTANCES OF THINGS CONFIDED 

If they have, why did he not acquaint the com- 
mittee with the fact, in order that they might 
form their judgment of the nature of powers, 
derived from a foreign source, and liable to be 
withdrawn at any time ? If they have not, (as 
I frankly avow my full conviction, that they 
have not,) how does he reconcile his statement 
with the truth ? Will he resolve the whole into 
his own ignorance, on a subject most intimately 
connected with his episcopal functions ? That 
is hardly possible. 

In the Report of Dr. Doyle's Evidence on 
the subject of Confession and Absolution before 
the committee of the other house, (as might be 
expected,) we are not shocked with any such 
display on the part of his examiners. They 
limit their inquiry to the possibility of disclo- 
sures being made by the priests of crimes 
communicated to them in confession ; and 
Du Thou's authority is quoted for the fact of 
such disclosures having been permitted in 
France. Dr. Doyle answers, (p. 245) " I would 
" not believe, on the authority of Du Thou, nor 
" any authority whatever, that it could have 
" been allowed ; for we hold universally, in the 
" Catholic Church, that the revealing of any 
" secrets confided to the priests in confession, 



IN CONFESSION BEING DISCLOSED. 67 

" is contrary to the law of nature, and to the 
" authority of God ; in respect* of which, no 
■ 6 Pope or council can dispense or exercise any 
" authority, except to enforce such law." 

I do not question the sincerity of Dr. Doyle 
in delivering this opinion : but I think it right 
to state, in confirmation of the accuracy of Du 
Thou, (an historian whose candour and caution 
are of themselves no ordinary vouchers for the 
truth of what he affirms,) that a similar instance 
is recorded by Gregorio Leti, in his Life of Six- 
tus V. He tells us, that that Pontiff, after he 
had succeeded to the Papal Chair, availed him- 
self, in many cases, of the secrets formerly 
confided to him in the confessional, at a time 
when his great sanctity had rendered him the 
most popular confessor in Rome. He kept a 
register of these matters, and not only brought 
many persons to justice for crimes which had 
been so communicated to himself ; but he like- 
wise sent for the oldest confessors, and required 
them to communicate to him whatever crimes 
had been confessed to them. Several com- 
plied; and Leti justifies the proceeding by the 
necessity of the times.* 

Need I refer to the suspicions so generally 
entertained of the use made by the Jesuits of 

* Par. II. lib. iv. p. 285. 288. 
F 2 



6S DR. DOYLE EXPLAINS AWAY PART 

the knowledge of state secrets acquired in the 
same way ? . 

I must not quit Dr. Doyle on the subject of 
confession, without noticing an extraordinary 
declaration which he makes in his second ex- 
amination before the House of Lords. 

Having stated the religious obligation under 
which the Roman priesthood is placed, of 
never divulging what is communicated to them 
in confession, he is reminded, that Roman 
Catholics are called upon, in their oath of 
allegiance, to swear that they will make known 
to his Majesty any treason, or treasonable de- 
signs, which they may know to be meditated 
against him. " From what you have now said," 
their Lordships proceed, " you could not take 
such an oath ?"* His answer is one of the 
most curious, and, at the same time, most 
instructive imaginable. " As our rite of con- 
" fession is known to the laws, and our doctrines 
" with regard to it universally acknowledged 
" to exist in our church, the oath which binds 
16 us to discover any treason, which may come 
" to our knowledge, does not oblige us to 
" reveal any thing with which we may become 
" acquainted in sacramental confession ; that 



* Lords, 309. 



OF THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 



69 



" is the manner in which we understand the 
" clause of the oath." # 

The first observation, which arises on this 
answer, is, that neither their rite of confes- 
sion, nor any doctrine connected with it, are at 
all known to the laws of England, that the fol- 
lowers of Johanna Southcote, or any one of the 
most insignificant sects that can be named, have 
just as good a right to set up a pretence that 
they are recognized by law. 

But, secondly, the oath required by the act of 
the 13th and 14th of Geo. III. does not only 
state that the person who takes it, " will do his 
M utmost endeavour to disclose and make 
" known to his Majesty, and his heirs, all trea- 
" sons and traitorous conspiracies which may 
" be formed against him ;" but it further says, 
what we have over and over again been told, is 
alone a prodigious security for the strictest 
possible observance of this oath ; " and / do 
" solemnly, in the presence of God, and his only 
" son Jesus Christ my Redeemer, profess, testify, 
" and declare, that I do make this declaration, and 

* It is very remarkable, when taken in conjunction witli 
what Dr. Doyle has here said, that the Dublin Synod, in their 
Declaration just set forth, giving an abstract of the oath of alle- 
giance taken by Roman Catholics, (p. 17.) omit all mention of 
the obligation to disclose all traitorous conspiracies which may 
come to their knowledge. 



70 CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH A MODE 

" every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary 
" sense of the words of this oath, without any 
" evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation 
" whatever," 8$c. 

Now, if after this most solemn, most awful 
declaration, Dr. Doyle, or any other Roman 
Catholic, when reminded of his oath of alle- 
giance, may turn short round, and say, " there 
" are certain doctrines of my church at variance 
" with the terms of this oath, and as the law 
" must know that there are such, the oath can- 
" not bind us in opposition to them," — What is 
to become of any oaths whatever, that may be 
devised for these religionists ? I am not putting 
an idle question, but one that has a direct and 
immediate bearing on a most important fact. 
All the clergy beneficed in the Church of Rome, 
have taken an oath that they " acknowledge 
" that church to be the mother and mistress of 
" all churches, and promise and swear true 
" obedience to the Pope, Vicar of Jesus Christ, 
" and that all things delivered and defined by 
" the holy canons and general councils, they do 
" unhesitatingly receive and confess, and that 
" they condemn and reject all things contrary 

thereto." Every bishop, in addition to this, 
swears that he will assist the pope in retaining 
and defending the royalties (regalia) of St. 
Peter, against any man (salvo meo ordine) ; that 



OF CONSTRUING OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. 7 I 

he will take care to defend, augment, and ad- 
vance the rights, honours, privileges and 
" authority of the holy Roman Church, of his 
" Lord the Pope, and his successors aforesaid ; 
" that he will observe, to the utmost of his 
" power, and will cause to be observed by 
" others, the rules of the holy Father's decrees, 
" ordinances, reservations, provisions, and apos- 
" tolic commands ; that he will render to 
" the Pope an account of his pastoral office, 
" and of all things pertaining to the state of 
" his church, and the discipline of his clergy 
" and people, and will thereupon receive, with 
" all humility, the Pope's apostolic mandates, 
" and execute them with the utmost diligence.' 1 * 
How, I ask, are we to know, that the de- 
mands imposed by these oaths will never inter- 
fere with what the law of the land regards as 
the duty of good subjects ? But if they should, 
have not those, who take them, as good a right 
to say in that case, as in this of confession : 
" the oath of allegiance does not bind me 
" where my oath to the Pope interferes, be- 
" cause it is contrary to the doctrines of my 
" church, which doctrines your law cannot but 
" know, and since it knows, cannot but 
" respect?" Is our common sense to be in- 
sulted with that mockery of a security in- 

* Lords, 258. 



72 DR. MURRAY AT VARIANCE WITH DR. DOYLE 

serted at the conclusion of the last oath by 
Pius VI. " These things I will keep the more 
" inviolably, because I know that there is no- 
" thing contained in them which can conflict 
" with tfee fidelity due to the King ?•" 

In passing from the evidence of Dr. Doyle 
to what was stated by other divines on confes- 
sion and absolution. I shall confine myself to 
Dr. Murray, "Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Dublin. 

That prelate, in his examination before the 
Commons, instead of confirming what Dr. 
Doyle had told them, instead of saying that the 
doctrine of the two churches is "precisely 
" the same," volunteers an enumeration of the 
demands which the church of Rome makes on, 
the penitent, beyond any other church whatso- 
ever. " We require," says he, " all that every 
" other christian denomination requires for the 
<£ remission of sins ; that is, sincere and intense 

repentance, including a purpose of future 
" amendment ; and we require further, the 
" additional humiliation of confession, the re~ 
" ceiving of absolution from the proper autho- 
" rity, and an intention to practise such peni* 
" tential works as may be enjoined, or as the 
" nature of the sin may require."* 

* Commons, p, 226. 



dr. Murray's intense repentance. 



73 



This difference between the two prelates it 
is not for me to adjust or explain. I am at 
present engaged with Dr. Murray : but of all 
the particulars here recounted by him,, the only 
one, on which I shall remark, is the " intense 
" repentance/' which he describes in glowing 
terms as synonymous with that " contrition by 
" which the heart is changed. 1 ' 

It appears that on the examination of Mr. 
Phelan, that gentleman had let in a little new 
light on the committee, by mentioning attrition, 
as a substitute for contrition, (it is called by 
the Council of Trent, imperfect contrition) ; and 
attrition is described by him as " signifying a 
" sorrow for sin, arising merely out of a con- 
" sideration of the punishment which may be 
" annexed to it ; and this feeling," he says, 
" is at present admitted by the highest autho- 
" rity in the Church of Rome, as entitling to 
" absolution."* 

Now this, it will be readily perceived, 
relaxes very considerably the intensity of the 
repentance of which Dr. Murray has spoken. 
This prelate, therefore, being on a subsequent 
day called in, (apparently for the purpose of 
doing away the effect of certain parts of the 
evidence of the Protestant divines,) is askedy 

* Commons, p. 491. — See also Letters to Butler, p. 197. 



74 BLUNDER OF THE COMMITTEE OF HOUSE OF 



among other matters, about " attrition."* But, 
unfortunately, he is quite unable to contradict 
Mr. Phelan's description of it. Here, then, we 
have at last Dr. Murray's "intense repentance ;" 
it is, in other words, " the fear of Hell." 

But in this second examination of Dr. Mur- 
ray, another very remarkable particular occurs, 
which must not be passed without notice. 

Q. " Does not the Council of Trent require, 
" as a necessary means of justification on the 
" part of a sinner, that he be moved by divine 
" grace, repent for his sins, and detest them ; 
" that he should hope for pardon through the 
" merits of Jesus Christ, and begin to love God, 
" as the fountain of all justice?" — A. " Most 
" undoubtedly" Q. " Can any doctrine incon- 
" sistent with that be taught in your church, 
" without incurring the guilt of error ?" — A. 
" Certainly not."— p. 653. 

I beg leave to premise most sincerely, that 
I mean not to treat the Committee of the House 
of Commons, nor any member of it, with the 
slightest disrespect, when I venture to state, 
that the former of these questions can have pro- 
ceeded only from a very grievous, but at the 
same time very natural, blunder. To own the 

* Commons , p. 654. 



jCOMMONS respecting justification. 75 



truth, I have no doubt whatever, that the 
examiner, be he who he may, was duped, by- 
some plausible, but disingenuous, informant, 
who put these words into his mouth, without 
giving him to understand the real case to which 
they are applicable. For the question is con- 
ceived in terms most remarkably accordant, 
almost, indeed, verbatim the same, with the 
language of the Council of Trent, and must have 
been devised by some one muchbetter acquainted 
with that Council, than the Committee has 
shown itself in any other instance, or could, in 
truth, be expected to be. But, after all, the 
justification for which the Council of Trent 
makes these requisitions, is the justification 
given in baptism* Nothing could be more 
accurate than the citation of the words of the 
Council, if that justification were the subject 
of inquiry. But the matter, on which the Com- 
mittee were employed, was the mode of obtain- 
ing, in the church of Rome, remission of sin 
committed after baptism ; of such sin, in short, 
as is the subject of sacramental confession. 
And I am quite sure, that if the Committee had 
substituted, in their question, the phrase remis- 
sion of sin, instead of justification, Dr. Murray 
must have given them a very different answer. 

* Con. Trid. sess. vi. cap. 6'. 



76 



LOVE OF GOD 



He would not have dared to say, that the Council 
of Trent most undoubtedly requires, as a necessary 
means (or condition) of such remission of sin on 
the part of a sinner, " that he be moved by divine 
" grace, repent for his sins, and detest them ; that 
" he should hope for pardon through the merits 
" of Jesus Christ, and begin to love God, as the 
" fountain of all justice." 

The Council of Trent requires no detestation of 
sin, no love of God, as necessary. Attrition, 
proceeding either from consideration of the 
turpitude of sin, or from the fear of Hell, if it 
excludes the present will of sinning, and be 
accompanied with the hope of pardon, is suf- 
ficient with the sacrament of penance. 

It is true, that the Class-book of Maynooth 
argues that there must be an initial love of God, 
(the nature of which I have explained in page 
200 of my Letters to you) : but so far is even 
that book from saying that this is most un- 
doubtedly true, that it cites a long passage from 
(one of the most learned, as well as most 
exemplary, of all your Pontiffs) Benedict XIV. 
of which the following is an abstract ; " Before 
" the Council of Trent, the attrition, necessary 
" to obtain the grace of God in the sacrament of 
4 ' penance, was commonly described by divines. 
" as not altogether separated from, at least, some 



NOT NECESSARY FOR ABSOLUTION. 77 

" slender, feeble, initial love of God. The 
" Dominicans, Vittoria and Soto, first taught 
" that servile attrition, that which arises solely 
"from the fear of Hell, provided the penitent 
" believes it to be contrition, is sufficient. This 
" opinion was followed by Melchior Canus, who 
" extended it even to servile attrition, when 
" known by the party himself to be such, that 
" is, to be not true contrition : and Melchior 
" Canus's judgment was no sooner made public, 
" than it spread through all the schools, and 
" was eagerly adopted by a great majority of 
" divines, and those of the highest reputation ; 
" some of the wiser and more learned among 
" them subscribed to this opinion, at first, with 
" great caution, but their successors, confident 
" in the number of those who maintain it, have 
" not only affirmed it without any doubt or limi- 
" tation, but have not scrupled to brand the 
" contrary opinion with a formal censure, as 
" utterly improbable, dangerous, and implicitly and 
" virtually proscribed by the Council of Trent"* 

In addition to this testimony, I must cite 
a decree of Alexander VII. dated 5th May, 
1667, stating in express terms, that " the more 
" common opinion is that, which denies the 

* Delahogue, Poen. p. 101. 



78 



LOVE OF GOD NOT NECESSARY. 



" necessity of any love of God in attrition, to 
" obtain the grace of God in the Sacrament of 
" Penance," and forbidding any one to decry it 
by any injurious or offensive expression. It 
forbade also the condemning the contrary 
opinion, (that some act of the love of God is 
necessary,) " before the Holy See shall have 
" decided."* The Holy See has since decided 
in the Bull " Unigenitus" (admitted to be valid 
in Ireland) condemning sixteen propositions (forty- 
four to fifty-eight inclusive) which, in different 
terms and in various degrees, affirmed the necesr 
sity of the love of God. Lastly, the Declaration 
of the recent Synod at Dublin, (p. 15,) 
describes the qualifications for absolution in 
such a manner, as excludes the necessity of 
any love of God. 

So much for this unlucky blunder of the 
Committee, and the prompt and ingenious use 
made of it by Dr. Murray. 

I will not dwell longer on the evidence given 
by him and his brother prelates on the subject 
of confession and absolution (though I might 
easily find matter for more than one discussion) ; 
but will conclude what I have to say on this 
point with the following important sworn testi- 

* Recueil Historique des Bulles, &c. Mons. 1697. p. 254, 



EFFECTS OF R. C. DOCTRIXES IX IRELAND. 79 



mony, given before the Lords by the Rev. John 
Burnett, a dissenting minister, resident at Cork, 
whose good sense, candour, and moderation, as 
exhibited before both Committees, entitle him 
to higher praise than I can presume to offer. 

" There are Catholic books in general circula- 
" tion in the country, that are subversive of 
e i every first principle of morality and religion. 
" It is well known by the priesthood, that those 
" books are in circulation; they could prevent 
" their circulation, as they prevent, in a great 
" degree, the circulation of the scriptures. They 
" have never, so far as I have been able to learn, 
" made any attempt to prevent their circula- 
" tion."— p. 469. " One book is the Cord of 
" St. Francis ; the Scapular is another. There 
" are numbers of Books of Orders, as they are 
" called, which prescribe certain prayers to be 
" repeated, called acts of faith, acts of charity, 
" acts of hope, and acts of contrition; they 
" prescribe certain forms to be gone through 
" in their devotions, and they connect with 
" these prayers and these forms speedy release 
" from purgatory. The lower order of the Ro- 
" man Catholics believe this, and feel and act 
" upon the belief of it ; the effect of which is, 
" that no Roman Catholic of the lower orders has 
" any dread of final perdition. I have spoken with 
" them frequently on the subject, and never found 



80 DEMORALIZING EFFECTS OF 

<s one of them that supposed he could go to HelL 
e< If they die in mortal sin, their doctrine is, 
<f that they must go to perdition; if, however, 
" they apply to the priest for absolution, he 

must give it; and in the case of absolution, 
" which is administered on their professing a 

regret for their sins, they go only to purga- 
" tory; and they depend on those Books of Or- 
" ders for their release from it ; and hence the 
" punishments of futurity, in their estimation, 
"are only temporary punishments; and this 
S( conviction has a very injurious effect upon 
" the views and feelings and conduct of the 
" people. It is easy to make a profession of re- 
" gretfor sin, and to repeat prescribed prayers, 
" and to rely upon Books of Orders ; and on 
" these professions, prayers, and books, the 
" Catholics do rely, instead of following the 
" general principles of morality, and taking a 

rational and enlightened view of the religion 
" of revelation. " # 

66 The influence of Catholicity in Ireland might 
" be extended very materially through the me- 
" dium of confession; there is no feeling or 
" thought entertained by the people, that they 
" would withhold from the priest in confession, 

if he chose to interrogate them ; it is a medium 
" through which every species of information 

* Lords, p. 470. 



DOCTRINE OF ABSOLUTION IN IRELAND. 8l 

" could be obtained by the priesthood; and any 
" use, injurious or otherwise, to the community 
" or individuals, could be made of the informa- 
" tion so received from the people. The confi- 
" deuce of the people in their absolution, which 
"follows confession, is such as completely to de- 
" stroy in their minds any fear of future punish- 
" merit. I have found this to be the case gene- 
" rally ; and in cases where they are convicted 
" in courts of justice, they very seldom show any 
" thing like a feeling sense of their situation, 
" which, I conceive, arises solely from the con- 
" viction that the absolution enjoyed at the 
" hands of the priest will do every thing for 
" them. / have seen, myself, thirty-five indivi- 
" duals in the dock together, sentenced to death, and 
" I could not perceive the least degree of emotion 
" in consequence of the pronouncing of sentence, all 
" which I attributed to the confidence placed in the 
" absolution of the Clergy."* — Ibid. 

* In the Eighty-fifth Number of the Edinburgh Review, 
recently published, it is affirmed with all gravity, that " the 
" doctrines of the Catholic Church, as to absolution, confession, 
ie and penance, are laid down in the Common Prayer Book in the 
" same words as they are described in the Catholic Books.'' — 
p. 129. 

It will hardly be expected, after what has been already said ? 
that I should waste the time of my readers and myself, by ex- 
posing the utter ignorance which dictated this statement. Ig- 

G 



82 GROSS ERROR OF EDINBURGH REVIEW. 



I must now touch on a particular brought 
forward before the Committees, which was not 
treated in any of my Letters to you. 

THE PROHIBITION OF THE FREE USE OF THE 
SCRIPTURES BY THE ROMAN CATHOLICS. 

Dr. Doyle, being questioned on this matter 
by the Lords, first says, that " a rescript of Pius 

norance and presumption are to be expected, as matters of course, 
in any discussion of the Edinburgh Review, in which religion is 
concerned. But when such an assertion, as I have cited above, 
is accompanied by such barefaced disregard to truth as is exhi- 
bited in what follows below, it is the duty of every honest man, 
in whose way these matters happen to fall, to hold forth to 
merited scorn the profligate and unprincipled character of a 
journal, which can have recourse to these miserable frauds. 

" It would be well were those Protestant divines, who have 
<e been so forward in bringing accusations against the Catholics, 
<c and in declaring what the doctrines of Roman Catholics are, 
" from their own views and inferences, to let the Roman Catholic 
" Church speak for itself; and toallowits dogmas to be learnedfrom 
" its councils, its professions of faith, its catechisms, its liturgies, 
" and its most able divines. For our own part, we feel it to be our 
" duty, in approaching the delicate, and now highly important 
* task, of endeavouring to develope the real principles of the 
" Roman Catholic Religion, with respect to the so much talked 
" of authority and influence of the Pope, to suspect all our own 
' ' old and long cherished opinions ; to investigate each fact of the 
" case, as if for the first time presented to our understanding j 
" and, above all, not to take doctrines of the Catholics at second- 
" hand, but to refer directly to the known depositaries of their 



GROSS ERROR OF EDINBURGH REVIEW. 83 

" VI. exhorting the faithful to read the Word 
" of God, is prefixed to their Editions, in Eng- 

" faith and discipline." "The Reverend petitioners of the Church 
" of England would do well to reflect, that in vilifying and misre- 
" presenting the Catholic religion, they are raising a prejudice 
" against a religion that has a very great similarity to their own." 
Then, among other matter almost equally veracious, occurs what 
I first cited. " The doctrines of the Catholic church, as to ab" 
" solution, confession, and penance, are laid down in the Com- 
" mon Prayer Book in the same words as they are described in 
" the Catholic Books." 

All this, we see, is not mere ignorance. It is intimated with 
a ludicrous parade of research and self-complacency, that 
<e councils, professions of faith, catechisms, liturgies," &c. have 
been consulted ; whereas, it is perfectly certain, that if the 
writer had really had recourse to any tolerable authorities, be- 
fore he had the hardihood to impose such a statement on his 
readers, he would have found them expressing directly the con- 
trary to what he affirms. 

Of the other blunders and misrepresentations, of which this 
article would present a plentiful crop to any one who thought 
them worth gathering, I have neither the time nor the patience 
to undertake the exposure. Happily, the day is past, when 
much mischief can ensue from this quarter. But there is one 
particular, on which I must dwell for a moment, I mean the 
miserable attempt to whisper away the character of the Rev. J. 
Blanco White, and his book, in the following note at p. 135. 
" Mr. Charles Butler, in his Book of the Roman Catholic 
" Church refers to the Canon of the Tenth Session of this 
" Council, and says, that it defined that ' full power was 
" c delegated to the Bishop of Rome, in the person of St. Peter* 
" e to feed, regulate, and govern the Universal Church, as ex- 

G 2 



84 EDINBURGH REVIEW'S FALSE CHARGE 



" lish, of the Bible,'' which rescript certainly does 
not appear in the only edition which I have been 

a < p resse( J, i n the General Councils and holy canons.' This, Mr. 
te Butler declares, ' is the doctrine of the Roman Catholic 
<c ' Church on the authority of the Pope_, and beyond it no 
" ' Roman Catholic is required to believe.' Mr. Blanco White, 
" in his late publication, denies the accuracy of the declaration of 
" Mr. Butler, and quotes the words, ' full power to feed, regu- 
i( f late, and govern the Universal Church,' as giving an unli- 
ee mited power, without quoting the words immediately follow- 
et ing, e as expressed in the general councils and holy canons:' 
" which words directly qualify and limit the power ! ! ! Mr. 
" Blanco White, we regret to say, betrays many similar suppres- 
" sions of the whole truth in his book." 

Now will it be believed, that this shameless attack on an able, 
learned, and exiled foreigner, one who has the strongest of all 
claims on the respect of every friend of literature and virtue, 
who has made large sacrifices of wealth and honours at the 
dictate of conscience, whose only fault, even in the eyes of this 
reviewer, must be, that he has embraced, from honest con- 
viction, the faith and the communion of the Church of Eng- 
land, — rests altogether on the false rendering of a few plain 
Latin words in the decree of the Council of Florence, which 
any fourth-form boy at the High-school at Edinburgh could 
have taught the Reviewer and Mr. Butler how to construe ? 

Those words are as follows : — " Quemadmodum et in gestis 
" CEcumenicorum Conciliorum et in sacris Canonibus conti- 
" netur." (As also is contained in the Acts of the General 
Councils and holy Canons ) This is rendered by these precious 
scholars, <e as expressed in the General Councils, and Holy 
(( Canons," and the Reviewer adds, {( which words directly qualify 
i( and limit the power." But let me ask this learned clerk, who 



AGAINST THE REV. J. BLANCO WHITE. 85 



able to consult, the Stereotype edition of last 
year* He next enumerates no fewer than seven 
editions of the Bible, which they have procured 
to be published in Ireland, since the invention 
of the art of printing, for a population which is 

tells us he has " felt it his duty" to examine Councils, &c, can 
he name any one admitted General Council, which does " qua- 
" lify and limit the power of the Pope?" " Yes," says he, p. 
134. "the Councils of Constance and Basil, among the most 
" authoritative that ever assembled, have declared in express 
" terms, that the supreme power of the Church-militant under 
ff Christ, over all the faithful, and even over the Pope himself, 
l< with respect to matters of faith, is vested in General Councils," 
and yet, three pages before, note, p. 131. he has himself said.* 
that te the decrees of a General Council, to be valid, must be ap- 
" proved by the Pope /" But can he be so very ignorant, as not 
to know, that the Councils of Constance and Basil, which he 
styles " among the most authoritative that ever assembled,'' 
have, in truth, no authority at all, on the particulars in which 
they are alleged by him ? and this, even on the principle ad- 
mitted by himself, the want of the sanction of the Pope ? Ac- 
cordingly, the former is not admitted into Bellarmine's list of 
approved General Councils, and though it appears in Delahogue's 
list, it is with an intimation, that its earlier Sessions, in which 
the Decree quoted by the Reviewer was passed, have not the 
consent of the Church at large. As for the Council of Basil, it 
is not admitted even into Delahogue's list, much less into that 
of Bellarmine. — See Delahogue deEccl. App. ii. p. 439. 

* It seems from Mr. Donellan's evidence before the Lords, 
p. 379, that this rescript was prefixed to only one edition ; and it 
is there stated, that the rescript recommended the reading of the 
Scriptures, " under proper restrictions and regulations,'" 



86 



FREE USE OF SCRIPTURES 



stated, with whatever accuracy, to amount at 
the present day to not less than six millions ! 
and then proceeds as follows : — " So that of all 
" the things said of us, there is not any thing 
" more opposed to truth, than that we are averse 
' ' to the circulation of the Word of God . "—-p. 237 . 

My observations on this point will not give 
me much labour of argument ; I shall, in truth, 
have little more to do than to use my scissors. 

I will first present my readers with an extract 
from the " Fourth Rule De Libris prohibitis," 
set forth by the select Fathers to whom the 
Synod of Trent had committed this charge, and 
" approved and confirmed by Pius IV. ;" re- 
minding my readers, that the decrees of this 
council, even respecting discipline, have been 
accepted, and are, of course, valid, in almost 
every part of Ireland. 

" Since it is manifest by experience, that if 
" the holy Bibles in the vulgar language are per- 
" mitted to be read every where without discri- 
" mination, more harm than good arises, let the 
"judgment of the bishop or inquisitor be abided 
66 by in this particular. So that after consult- 
" ing with the parish minister or the confessor, 
" they may grant permission to read transla- 
66 tions of the Scriptures made by Catholic Au- 
" thors, to those whom they shall have under- 
" stood to be able to receive no harm, but an 



PROHIBITED TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 87 

" increase of faith and piety from such reading ; 
" which faculty let them have in writing. But 
" whosoever shall presume to read these Bibles, 
" or have them in possession without such fa- 
" culty, shall not be capable of receiving abso- 
" lution of their sins, unless they have first given 
" up their Bibles to the ordinary. Booksellers 
" who shall sell, or in any other way furnish, 
" Bibles in the vulgar tongue to any one not 
" possessed of the license aforesaid, shall for- 
" feit the price of the books, which is to be ap- 
" plied by the bishop to pious uses, and shall 
" be otherwise punished at the pleasure of the 
6 ' same bishop according to the degree of the 
" offence. Moreover, regulars (i. e. monks) may 
" not read or purchase the same without license 
" had from their principals." 

My next extract shall be from the Encyclical 
Letter of the present Pope, Leo XII. , dated 3d 
May, 1824, and published with "Pastoral In- 
" structions to all the faithful," by the Archbi- 
shops and Bishops of Ireland. 

" We also, venerable brethren, in conformity 
" with our apostolic duty, exhort you to turn 
" away your flock, by all means, from these 
6 6 poisonous pastures," (the Scriptures translated 
into the vulgar tongue.) " Reprove, beseech, 
" be instant in season and out of season, in all 
" patience and doctrine, that the faithful entrusted 



88 



FREE USE OF SCRIPTURES 



" to you (adhering strictly to the rules of our 
" Congregation of the Index),* be persuaded, 
" that if the Sacred Scriptures be every indiscrimi- 
" nately published, more evil than advantage 
" will arise thence, on account of the rashness 
" of men." — p. 16. 

To this passage the Irish prelates, Dr. Doyle 
among the rest, in their " Pastoral Instructions," 
refer in the following terms ; " Our Holy Father 
" recommends to the observance of the faith- 
" ful, a rule of the Congregation of the Index, 
" which prohibits the perusal of the Sacred 
" Scriptures in the vulgar tongue, without the 
" sanction of the competent authorities. His 
(( Holiness wisely remarks, ' that more evil than 
" ' good is found to result from the indiscrimi- 
" ' nate perusal of them, &c.' „ In this sentiment 
" of our head and chief we fully concur? — p. 54. 

The recent Synod of Dublin, p. 12, says, as 
follows : — " The Catholics in Ireland, of mature 
'- years, are permitted to read authentic and ap- 

* This rule has just been cited above. It is worth remark- 
ing, by the way, that that honest controvertist and faithful histo- 
rian, Dr. Lingard, has spoken of the Index as follows : — " The 
" authority of the Index was always very confined, and in many 
" Catholic countries was never acknowledged. Yet this very 
" prohibition contained in the Index is only conditional, and 
f f has always been considered as a temporary regulation.'" — Lin- 
gard's Tracts, p. 232. 



PROHIBITED TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 89 



" proved translations of the Holy Scriptures, 
" with explanatory notes, and are exhorted to 
" use them in the spirit of piety, humility and 
" obedience." 

My last extracts on this subj ect shall be from the 
writings of Dr. Doyle himself. " The Scriptures 
" alone have never saved any one, they are inca- 
" pable of giving salvation, it is not their object; 
" it is not the end for which they were written. 
" They hold a dignified place amongst the 
' ' means of the institution, which Christ formed 
" for the purpose of saving his elect ; but though 
" they never had been written, this end would have 
" been attained, and all who were pre-ordained to 
" eternal life would have been gathered to the 
" Church, and fed with the bread of life." — 
/. K. L. p. 164. 

Let us pause one moment here. " Receive 

4 'with meekness the engrafted word, which is 
" able to save your souls," says St. Paul. — It is 
able to do no such thing, says Dr. Doyle, " the 
" Scriptures alone have never saved any one," 
— where by the word " alone" he does not 
mean, without the assistance of the grace of 
God, but without the assistance of the priest. 

" From a child," says the same St. Paul to 
Timothy, " thou hast known the Holy Scrip- 
" tures which are able to make thee wise unto sal- 
kt vation" What says Dr. Doyle ? " They are 



90 



DR. DOYLE'S REASONS 



" incapable of giving salvation, it is not their object, 
" it is not their end" 

Once more. " These are written," says St. 
John, " that ye might believe that Jesus is the 
iC Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye 
" might have life through his name." " This is 
" all very well," says Dr. Doyle ; " but do not 
" think the Scriptures necessary ; though they 
" never had been written, this would have been at- 
" tained, and we should have had life without 
" them." 

Let me proceed with my extracts. " Had 
" the chain, with which Henry the Eighth tied 
" the Bible to the preaching desk in England, 
" never been broken, that country would not 
" have witnessed the scenes which her history 
" records," (very true !) and (( she might this day 
" be the most free and happy nation on the earth, 
" reposing in the bosom of the Catholic church!" 

" Wherever the reading of the Bible is not re- 
" gulated by a salutary discipline such as our s, 
" it leads a great portion of the people neces- 
" sarily to fanaticism or to infidelity." — p. 179. 

" The entire Scriptures, or portions of them, 
" may be read for edification and instruction 
6i by all who will not abuse them, or who, in 
" the opinion of those, whom the Holy Ghost 
66 placed to rule the church, are like to profit 
"by them."— p. 207. 



AGAINST FREE USE OF SCRIPTURES. 91 



" What then is the difference between us? — 
" a very wide one indeed ; for we maintain that 
" the Scripture is given to all, that they may, 
" each in his proper station, be instructed by it 
" unto righteousness. Not all of it to be entrusted 
" to each, but what is useful to every one, that no 
" one may be more wise than he ought, but that 
" he may be wise to sobriety. This is the eco- 
" nomy of our church. "* — p. 217. 

After this detail of Dr. Doyle's sentiments re- 
specting the Scriptures, it is a matter of course, 
that he should be vehemently opposed to the 

* To enliven his grave statement of this church's economy, 
he is pleased to favour his readers with the following most edi- 
fying and instructive narrative in testimony of his respect for 
the word of God, when it is at all associated with the acts of 
heretics. " I heard of a poor man in the county of Kildare, 
" who, if I gave him a Bible, would venerate it more than any 
ce thing he possessed, but having been favoured by the lady of 
" his master with one of the Societies' Bibles without note or 
" comment, accepted of it with all the reverence which the 
" fear of losing his situation inspired. But, behold ! when the 
" night closed, and all danger of detection was removed, he, 
" lest he should be infected with heresy exhaled from the Pro- 
" testant Bible during his sleep, took it with a tongs, for he 
" would not defile his touch with it, and buried it in a grave which 
fi he had prepared for it in his garden ! I do admire the orthodoxy 
" of this Kildare peasant ; nay, I admire it greatly ; and should 
" / happen to meet him, I shall reward him for his zeal." — 
p. 179. 

It is but justice to the church, in which Dr. Doyle is a bishop, 



92 DR. DOYLE AND BIBLE SOCIETY. 



efforts of the Bible Society. I am not going 
to obtrude any remarks in favour of that Society, 
whose advocates need no support in arguing 
with their Irish opponents; but it is interesting 
to observe Dr. Doyle's extreme sensibility to 
every thing like persecution. It exhibits itself 
in the following very singular declaration; from 
which it is quite plain, that when the legislature 
shall have gratified him and his friends with the 
repeal of every adverse statute, he will not be 
satisfied, unless the Bible Society be also put 
down by act of parliament. " We have borne 
" many things, but we have never borne a perse- 
" cution more bitter than what now assails us. 
" As the persecution of the church by Julian in 
" the time of peace was more afflicting than that 
" of Nero or Domitian, so what ive suffer from these 
66 societies, the power and prejudice they have em- 
" bodied against us, is more tormenting than what 
" we endured under Anne or the Second George.'" (p. 
153.) With that consistency, which is the 
inseparable characteristic of truth, he tells us 
presently afterwards, as part of his "general 

to add; that that church is not answerable for this foul insult on 
the feelings of every Christian. The order of the church, as 
recognized by himself, (Evidence before the Lords, p. 238.) is 
this, that while all other tracts communicated by Protestants 
are to be restored to their owners or destroyed ; Bibles and 
Testaments are to be brought to the parish priest. 



POWER OF THE POPE. 



93 



" conclusion from the foregoing observations," 
that " the Society 's labours hitherto have been, and 
" must continue, fruitless, whether in converting 
" infidels, or in disturbing Catholicity ." 

From these various Extracts my reader will 
form his own judgment of the injustice done to 
the Roman Catholic Church, when it is said to 
be " averse to the circulation of the Word of 
" God." 

POWER OF THE POPE. 

We have here a subject, which is rendered 
more interesting than any that has preceded it,by 
the political question with which it is so inti- 
mately connected. I am, afraid, therefore, that 
it will occupy us, in its several ramifications, 
a little longer than I would wish. 

Dr. Doyle's evidence will be mainly, though 
not exclusively, my textbook; and very curious, 
indeed, are the texts recorded therein. 

I will begin with one or two of the most mar- 
vellous. 

'* As far as I am acquainted with the history 
of such claims," (the claims of the Popes to in- 
terfere with the temporal rights of Princes,) 
" they rested them upon such temporal rights 
" previously acquired by themselves or their 
i( predecessors" — (" by Kings and Princes mak- 
" ing their states tributary to the Holy See, or 



94 



DR. DOYLE'S ERRONEOUS STATEMENT 



" resigning them into the hands of the Pope, 
" and then accepting them back again, as Gifts 
" of the Holy See,") " with the single exception 
Ci of, I think, Boniface the Eighth. He in a 
" contest, as I recollect, with some king of 
" France, includes in a brief, which he issued, 
" a declaration that he did so by an authority 
" vested in him from above. This is the only 
" instance of the kind, which has occurred to 
e< me in my reading."* 

I must frankly express my astonishment, that 
the reading of this distinguished divine has been 
so very much confined. Among innumerable 
instances with which my own narrow reading- 
has furnished me (some of which have been men- 
tioned in p. 279, 281 of my Letters to you), I 
will select the following as more peculiarly 
interesting to the people of this country : it is 
the commencement of Paul III.'s bull " Ejus 
" qui,"t condemning, excommunicating, and 
hurling from his throne, our own sovereign, 
Henry VIII.; and it presents us with his Holi- 
ness's own statement of the authority upon 
which he rested that very vigorous measure. 
i( We, representing on earth Him, who order eth 
" all things by his wonderful Providence, and 
" placed in the seat of Judgment, according to the 
" prediction of the prophet Jeremiah (i. 10.) 
* Commons, 191. t Bull. Mag, t. i. p. 707. 



OF ORIGIN OF PAPAL POWER. 



95 



" 4 See ! I have set thee up over the nations and 
" - over the kingdoms, to root up and to pull 
" * down, and to destroy and to throw down; to 
" ' build and to plant, &c." ' Thus it appears 
that this is the standing text on these occasions, 
it is not only adopted by Boniface VIII. and In- 
nocent III. but also by Paul III. PiusV.&c.&c. 

There is, however, one instance, which is in- 
star omnium against Dr. Doyle's pleasant theory 
to account for the claims of the Pope to temporal 
power in independent states ; I mean the gift of 
America to Spain, and of India to Portugal, by 
Alexander VI.* Surely these countries had 
never been surrendered in any way to him or 
his predecessors. 

But let us look at another assertion of Dr. 
Doyle : 

" The Pope," says he, " at present does 
" not interfere, or attempt to interfere, with the 
" temporal concerns of any kingdom in Europe ; 
" to this, perhaps, there is an exception with 
" regard to the kingdom of Naples." " Let me 
" repeat, that the case of Naples is the only one 
" in which the Popes of Rome have, for the 
" last three centuries nearly, interfered in any 
" way directly, or indirectly, with the temporal 
" concerns of any state in Europe." — Com. 191. 

Such is his language before the Commons. 

# See " Herrera," in Robertson's America, vol. i. p. 127. 



96 DR. DOYLES ERRONEOUS STATEMENT 

On a subsequent day in his second examination 
by the Lords* (contrary to his usual practice 
before that auditory) he ventures on a higher 
flight, and actually brings himself to make on 
oath the following portentous asseveration. — 
" The Church has uniformly for nine centuries, 
" by her Popes themselves, by her practice, and 
" by her doctrines, and by her academies, 
4 ' maintained that the Popes have no right whatever 
" to interfere with the temporal sovereignties or 
** rights of kings or princes " 

There are some positions, which it is difficult 
to refute, without appearing to depart from the 
respect which an author ought always to feel for 
the understanding and information of his rea- 
ders : and if there ever was an instance of this 
kind, the present may pre-eminently claim to be 
so regarded — Let me then seriously assure my 
readers, that I do not suppose there is a man 
among them so ignorant as to believe what Dr. 
Doyle has here been pleased to say ; and that 
in undertaking to adduce a few of the many 
facts which are at variance with his sworn as- 
sertion, I have no other object in view than to 
place his credit as a witness in its proper light. 

In doing this I will make no advantage of the 
enlarged term of nine centuries past taken by 
him, but will suppose, for a while, that such 

* Lords, p. 311. 



BULL IN CCENA DOMINI. 



97 



personages as Innocent III. Gregory VII. and 
Dr. Doyle's old friend Boniface VIII. cum multis 
aliis, are utterly unknown to history. In short, 
I will limit my inquiries to the Doctor's more 
modest statement before the Commons, that "in 
" no case except that of Naples have the Popes, 
"for the last three centuries nearly, interfered in 
" any way , directly or indirectly, with the temporal 
" concerns of any state in Europe" 

In the year 1536, Paul III. put forth the fa- 
mous Bull " Consueverunt,"* commonly called 
in coena Domini, because it was published on 
Maundy Thursday, and was to be publicly pro- 
claimed at Rome on every subsequent anniver- 
sary of that day. It was in fact regularly so 
proclaimed in every church at Rome, almost 
within our own memory. 

In this Bull renewed and enlarged by subse- 
quent Popes, and especially by Paul V. in his 
Bull " Pastoralis officii ;"| " All heretics (in 
" particular Lutherans, Calvinists, &c.) are ex- 
" communicated and anathematized" — so are 
" all who appeal from the orders or decrees of 
" the Pope to a General Council; all who publish 
" any statutes, decrees, &c. whereby the eccle- 
" siastical liberty is violated, or in any way op- 
" pressed, or the rights of the Holy See and of 

* Bullar. Mag. i- p. 718. f Id. t iii. p. 282. 
H 



98 



INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



** any other church directly or indirectly preju- 
" diced — All who hinder Archbishops and Bi- 
" shops from exerting their jurisdiction against 
" any persons whatsoever, according as the Ca- 
" nons and the sacred Ecclesiastical Constitu- 
" tions, and the decrees of General Councils, 
(i especially that of Trent, lay down — All who 
" usurp any jurisdictions, fruits, revenues, 
" and emoluments belonging to the Holy See, 
" and any ecclesiastical persons, by reason of 
" churches, monasteries, or other ecclesiastical 
ci benefices ; or who upon any occasion or 
" causes sequester the said revenues without the 
" express leave of the Pope." — " Also on all 
66 who, without consent of the Pope, lay any 
" tenths, subsidies, or other burthens on pre- 
" lates and ecclesiastical persons on account of 
" their churches, monasteries, or other ecelesi- 
" astical goods, or who directly or indirectly 
" assist, execute, or procure the said things, 
" or give aid, counsel, or favour to them who 
"do; of whatever dignity, condition, or quality 
u they be, though emperor, king, &c. — All who 
" presume to invade, &c. the city of Rome. — 
i( No one to be absolved from the foresaid cen- 
" sures by any other than the Pope himself, ex- 
" cept he be at the point of death." 
In 1558, the ambassador of our own illustrious 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 99 

Queen Elizabeth was told by Paul IV. that she 
was a bastard, and that England was only a 
fief of the Holy See ; that the pretended Queen 
must begin by suspending the exercise of her 
function, till the Court of Rome had pronounced 
its sovereign judgment. A Bull of the same 
Pope, " Cum ex Apostolatu,"* declares that 
all princes, kings, and the emperor, falling into 
heresy, forfeit thereby their principalities and 
empire aforesaid. And this was confirmed by 
Pius V. in his Bull " Inter multiplices."t 

Pius V. in his Bull " Regnans in Excelsis,"J 
A.D. 1570, excommunicated Elizabeth, and 
deprived her of her kingdom. This sentence 
was renewed by Sixtus V. who published a so- 
lemn Bull, in which he styles Elizabeth an 
usurper, a heretic, and an excommunicate — 
gives her throne to Philip II. and commands the 
English to join the Spaniards in dethroning 
her.§ 

The same Pope proceeded in the same way 
against Henry of Navarre (afterwards Henry IV.) 
the Prince of Cond6, and all their adherents, pro- 
nouncing them heretics, &c. and declaring their 
estates and dominions forfeited— absolving their 
subjects from allegiance, and charging them not 

* Bullar. Mag. t. i. p. 840. f Ibid. t. ii. p. 214. 
X Ibid. t. ii. p. 324. § Thuani Hist. 1. 89. c. 9. 

H 2 



100 INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



to pay them obedience under pain of the greater 
excommunication .* 

In 1606, Paul V. forbade the Roman Catholics 
of this kingdom to take the oath of allegiance 
prescribed by James I. (which oath denied the 
power of the Pope to destroy the King, and to 
absolve his subjects from their allegiance ; and 
further declared damnable and heretical the 
position that Princes excommunicated may be 
deprived or murdered, and that the Pope hath 
no power to absolve from the same). " Such 
" an oath," says Paul, " cannot be taken without 
" hurting of the Catholic faith, and the salva- 
" tion of your souls ; seeing it contains many 
" things, which are flat contrary to faith and 
" salvation." This prohibition was repeated in 
the following year. \ 

Urban VIII. refused to Louis XIII. and Louis 
XIV. the title of King of Navarre, solely on the 
ground of the excommunication and deposition 
by Julius II. of John d'Albret, whose heirs those 
sovereigns were.J 

But the most extraordinary and most instruc- 
tive instance of the exercise of Papal power in 

* Thuani Hist. 1. lxxxii. c. 5. 

| See King James's Works, p. 25 1 . 

% Essai Historique sur la Puissance temporelle ties Papes, 

torn. i. p, 343. 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 101 

the seventeenth century was exhibited by 
Innocent X. who in a Bull (Zelo domuus Dei*) 
protested against, and declared void, the 
Treaties of Munster and Osnaburgh, on the 
express ground " of leaving ecclesiastical pro- 
" perty in the hands of heretics, of permit- 
" ting the free exercise of their heresy to those 
" of the Confession of Augsburg, of allowing 
" those heretics to be advanced to civil dignities 
" and offices." It proceeds to state, that 
Innocent's nuncio " had protested against these 
" articles, but without effect, on the well known 
" principle of law, that no treaty on ecclesiastical 
" matters, made without the authority of the Pope, 
" is binding ; and therefore he now, in the most 
" solemn manner, abrogates these articles, as 
" utterly invalid, unjust, &c. &c. and declares 
" that no one, by whatever oath they may have been 
" sanctioned, is bound to the observance of them." 

In the year 1682, the celebrated Declara- 
tion of the liberties of the Gallican Church was 
made. This Declaration, of which, among 
other authorities, the Edinburgh Review has 
recently said (No. 85, p. 136.) "that after 
" being confirmed by an Edict of the King, it 
" was registered by the Parliament, and has 
" ever since been uniformly considered as the 

* Bullar. Mag. torn. iv. p. 466. 



102 INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 

" recognized and fundamental law of the state," 
was condemned by Innocent XI. who refused 
the Bulls of Institution to some divines named 
by Louis XIV. to certain vacant bishoprics, on 
the ground of their having assisted in this 
assembly, and consequently erred in faith* 
These articles were also condemned by Alex- 
ander VIII.; and Innocent XII. not only 
refused to grant the Bulls to the Bishops, but 
obtained from them, on the demand of Louis 
XIV. himself, a letter, in which, after expressing 
their deep penitence for having joined in the 
Assembly of 1682, they proceed to say, that 
" whatever might be deemed to have been 
" decreed in that Assembly concerning eccle- 
" siastical power and episcopal authority, they 
" consider as not decreed, and declare that it 
" ought to be so considered. "f Nay, even this 
was not all, Louis himself, in a letter to the 
Pope, makes the following distinct assurance, 
" I have pleasure in giving your Holiness to 
" know, that I have issued the necessary orders 
<c that the things contained in my Edict of the 
44 2d of May, 1682, touching the declaration 

* Essai Historique, torn. i. p. 360. 

f Quicquid in iisdem comitiis circa ecclesiasticam potesta- 
tern et pontificiani autoritatem decretum censeri potuit, pro non 
decreto habeo et habendum esse declaro.— torn, it. p. 197. 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 103 

" made by the clergy of France (to which I 
' 6 was compelled by conjunctures now passed) 
" should not be obeyed, being desirous that not 
" only your Holiness should be informed of my 
" sentiments, but also that the whole world 
<c should perceive, by a particular mark, the 
" veneration which I have for your great and 
" holy qualities."* 

Of the condemnation passed on the Declara- 
tion of French bishops, in 1682, by Innocent 
XI. and Alexander VIII. it is proper to add, 
that it was cited with strong approbation by 
Pius VI. in his Bull, " Auctorem Fidei," A. .D 
1794,f and that all the power of Buonaparte 
could not prevail on Pius VII. when a prisoner 
at Savona, in 181 1, to acknowledge the doctrines 
affirmed in that Declaration.^: 

In 1712, as is stated by the Archbishop of 
Dublin, in his evidence before the Lords,§ 
Clement XI. addressed a letter to the Emperor 
Charles VI. on some of the provisions of the 
Treaty of Alt-Ranstadt, by which certain places 
were to be surrendered to 61 an execrable sect." 

* Essai Historique, t. ii. p. 195. 
t Ibid. &c. t. ii. p. 223. 

\ Fraguiens relatifs k l'Histoire Ecclesiastique, Paris, 
1814. p. 269, 
§ Lords, 748. 



104 RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 

In it he thus addresses the Emperor ; " We 
" by these presents denounce to your Majesty, 
" and at the same time, by the authority com- 
" mitted to us by the Omnipotent God, declare 
" the said covenants, and every thing contained 
" therein, which are in any wise obstructive of, 
" or hurtful to, or which may be said, esteemed, 
" pretended, or understood, to occasion, or to 
" bring, or to have brought, the least prejudice, 
" &c. to the Catholic Faith, divine worship, 
" salvation of souls, the authority, jurisdiction, 
" or any rights of the Church whatsoever, to 
" be, and to have been, and perpetually to 
" remain hereafter^ null, unjust, reprobated, 

void, and evacuated of all force from the 
" beginning, and that no person is bound to the 
" observance of them, although the same have been 
&( repeated, ratified, or seciwed by oath." 

In 1768, Clement XIII. published a brief on 
occasion of eertain edicts issued by the Duke of 
Parma and Placentia in his own states, (states 
which belonged to him in full sovereignty by 
the right of succession, by that of conquest, 
and by the most solemn treaties, coalesced in 
the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle.) In that brief, 
Clement, in the plenitude of his authority, 
abrogated, repealed, and annulled, as being 
prejudicial to the liberty, immunity, and juris- 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 105 

diction of the Church, whatever the Prince of 
Parma had ordered in his edicts, and forbade 
his subjects to obey their sovereign. This 
Papal mandate further declares, " that all who 
" have published the edicts, or done any act in 
" consequence of them, those that recognize 
" the illegal power of the magistrates, &c. over 
" ecclesiastics and church property, and, in 
" general, all that have been parties thereto, 
" have incurred the ecclesiastical censures 
" denounced by the Holy Canons, by the De- 
" crees of the General Councils, by the Apos- 
" tolic Ordinances, and especially by the Bull 
" read on Holy Thursday (In Coena Domini), 
" that they are deprived of all their privileges, 
" and incapacitated from receiving absolution, 
" until they shall have fully and entirely 
" restored matters to their former condition, or 
" shall have made suitable satisfaction to the 
" Church, and to the Holy See/* 

In order to appreciate the full value of this 
instance, we must bear in mind that the Duke 
of Parma was himself a member of the House 
of Bourbon, and that its other royal branches 
considered this exertion of Papal vigour, as an 
experiment to ascertain how far similar preten- 

* Rep. of Com. H.of C. 1816, " on Regulation of Ro 
" man Catholics in Foreign States." p. 269. 



J 06 RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 

sions would be tolerated in the more powerful 
states of Europe. 

Of the Bull In Ccena Domini, Cardinal Erskine, 
the "Most Holy Auditor of his Holiness," " Pro- 
" motore della Fide," in a note to Sir J. C. 
Hippesley, dated August, 1793, immediately 
before he was dispatched by the Pope on his 
mission to England, thus writes. Its publica- 
tion on Holy Thursday was " discontinued by 
« Clement XIII. (q. XIV.) out of a compli- 
" ment to some princes, to whom parts of it 
" were obnoxious." " This Bull, although the 
" formality of its publication is now omitted, 
" is nevertheless implicitly in full vigour in all its 
" extension, and is likewise observed in all cases 
" where there is no impediment to the exertion of 
" the Pope's authority : therefore it must be legally 
" looked upon as a public declaration to preserve 
" his rights"* 

Accordingly, and in compliance with the 
tenor of this Bull, In Ccena Domini, so late as in 
June, 1809, Pius VII. issued a Bull,| excom- 
municating and anathematising Buonaparte and 
all who adhered to him in his Invasion of the 
Papal States. And, lest it should be objected 

* Ibid. p. 341. 

t " Coirespondance authentique de la Cour de Rome avec 
" la France," &c. Paris, 1814. 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 107 

that this sentence was directed against the 
violations of the spiritual rights of the Pope, it 
is expressly stated, that " all who have acted 
" against even the temporal rights of the Church 
" and of the Holy See, all who have given 
" orders to that effect, all their favourers, 
" counsellors, and adherents, all, in short, who 
" have facilitated the execution of those orders, 
" or have executed them themselves, have 
" incurred the greater excommunication, and 
" other censures and ecclesiastical penalties, 
" imposed by the Holy Canons, &c. by the 
" decrees of General Councils, and particularly 
" by that of the Council of Trent." 

I should not do justice to the vigour of this 
proceeding, if I omitted to cite particularly the 
following sentence — * ' Let our persecutors, then, 
" learn once for all, that the law of Jesus Christ 
" has subjected them to our authority and to 
" our throne. For we also bear the sceptre, and 
" we can say that our power is far superior to 
" their's, unless it be wished that the Spirit 
" should yield to the flesh, that the interests of 
" Heaven should give place to those of the 
" earth. Already have so many Sovereign Pon- 
" tiffs been forced to proceed to similar extre- 
" mities against rebellious princes and kings, 
" &c. and shall we be afraid to follow their 
" example?" 

" This very intelligible allusion to Gregory, 



168 RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 



Innocent, &c. is followed afterwards by the 
following gracious language of forbearance. 
" But in the necessity in which we are placed 
" of using the sword of severity which the 
" Church has handed down to us, we cannot 
" forget that we hold on earth, unworthy as we 
" are, the place of Him, who in executing justice 
" ceases not to be the God of mercy." Therefore 
he forbids any damage being done " to the 
" goods, the rights or prerogatives of those who 
" are the subjects of these censures." But if 
it is mercy which makes him thus forbear, it is 
plain th?X justice would authorize him to strike.* 

* The whole conduct of Rome towards Buonaparte is wor- 
thy of close attention, and proves that the ancient maxims of 
the Vatican still continue to form its standing policy. We have 
seen above the reasons which induced Pius, in 1809, to fulmi- 
nate the censures of the Church. But it can be hardly neces- 
sary to remind my readers that when Buonaparte was in Egypt 
he had acknowledged Mahomet as the prophet of God 5 had 
spoken of the Koran as the object of his respect and love; and 
had even announced in one of his proclamations, that " it was 
t( predicted of him from the beginning of the world, that he 
"should put down the Cross.'' — (Proclamation du l er Nivose 
an 7. et Moniteur du 30 Germinal an 7.) Yet all this while 
the thunders of the Vatican were not heard. On the contrary^ 
with this apostate, this renegade, this mussulman, Pius VII. in 
due time, when it suited his interests, scrupled not to enter into 
a Concordat, to transfer to him from Louis XVIII. the fidelity 
of the French nation. This was not effected without a most 
edifying exhibition of Papal duplicity. 

" Pius VII. was elected at Venice, in March, 1800, at a 
" time when the affairs of the French were at a very low ebb. 
" From Venice he wrote to Louis XVIII. as well as to all the 
l< other Roman -Catholic princes, acquainting him with his 
" exaltation to the Popedom. But on his voyage from Venice 
" to Ancona in his way to Rome, he was informed of the battle 
e( of Marengo, which had made Buonaparte master of Italy. 
" He at first apprehended the re-establishment of the Roman 



THE TEMPORAL RfGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. *107 



But it is time to have done with this point ; 
let me only add the following recent proof of 
the continuance not only of the pretensions of 
the Popes to interfere with the temporal in- 
terests of mankind, but also of their readiness 
to assert those pretensions, whenever an oppor- 
tunity is given to them. 

In February, 1803, the Diet of Ratisbon 
overturned the political and religious state of 
certain of the German churches and chapters, 
secularized their possessions and distributed 
some of them as indemnities to secular Protes- 

tc Republic ; but being set at ease on this head, and being 
ee assured by Buonaparte, through the Cardinal Martiniana, 
" that he meant to re-establish the Roman-Catholic worship in 
" France, and having received an invitation to send agents to 
" enter into a negociation for that purpose, he thought it was 
<c 1 for the interest of religion' to recognize the new Governor 
" in France, and ordered the Members of the Sacred College 
" to write letters of compliment to its head. Therefore, when 
" Cardinal Maury came to Rome, as ambassador from Louis, 
" to present his letters of credence, Pius refused to receive them, 
<( by reason of the negociation he had resolved to open with 
" the First Consul. 

" The commencement of his Pontificate will be for ever 
" celebrated in history by that famous Concordat, in which he 
" pronounced, of his own authority, the destitution of all the 
" bishops and the extinction of all the episcopal titles in France 
" — an unheard of operation, effected without any canonical 
" forms, and in contempt of the most imprescriptible rights of 
" the Gallican Church. If the precipitation and the imperious 
" tone in which this was accomplished bears on it the marks 
" of the despot who was pressing him — still one may see that 
<e he himself was not sorry to burst asunder at one stroke the 
" barriers which separate the Gallican Liberties from the ultra- 
(< montane doctrines. — The anti-concordist bishops rested on 
" the Gallican Liberties ; the Concordists had no other colour 
" for their titles but the ultra-montane maxims." — (V. Du Pape 
et Des Jesuites.) 



108* RECENT INSTANCES OF POPES INVADING 

tant princes. This was the subject of many 
dispatches from Rome in 1 803, 4, 5 : in particular 
of an instruction to the Nuncio resident at 
Vienna, in the following terms : — 

" Not only has the Church taken care to 
" prevent heretics from occupying ecclesiastical 
" property, it has moreover established, as the 
" penalty of the crime of heresy, the confisca- 
" tion and loss of all the goods possessed by 
" heretics. This punishment is decreed, with 
" respect to the goods of individuals, in the 
" decretal of Innocent III. cap. Vergentes X. 
" de Ha?ret. and with respect to principalities 
*' and fiefs it is a rule of the Canon law, cap. 
" Absolutos XVI. de Haereticis, that subjects 
"of a prince manifestly heretical remain ab- 
" solved from all homage whatever, from fealty 
" and obedience to the same ; and no one, 
" however little versed in history, can be 
" ignorant of the sentences of deposition pro- 
" nounced by Popes and Councils against 
" Princes who are obstinate in heresy. We 
" have fallen on times so calamitous, and so 
i( full of humiliation to the spouse of Jesus 
" Christ, that as it is not possible to her to 
" exert, so neither is it expedient to remember, 
" these its most holy maxims of just rigour 
" against the enemies and rebels to the faith. 
" But though her right of deposing heretics from 
" their principalities, and of declaring them to 



THE TEMPORAL RIGHTS OF SOVEREIGNS. 109 

" have forfeited their possessions, cannot be 
" exercised, could she ever positively permit, 
" that in order to make up new principalities, 
" and new possessions, for them, she should 
" herself be despoiled ? What an occasion of 
" ridicule would not the Church give to those 
" very heretics and infidels! who, insulting her 
" grief, would say that means had been found 
" at last to make her tolerant"* 

I leave these matters, without comment, to 
the admirers of Dr. Doyle, and should be 
happy to hear from any one among them, 
whether it is any longer quite impossible to 
doubt either the honesty or the accuracy of that 
prelate, when he tells the Commons, and swears 
to the Lords, that the Popes have for nine, or 
for three centuries, renounced all claim to inter- 
fere with the temporal rights of princes. 

But we shall be told that, whether Dr. Doyle 
is right or wrong in his statement, at least it is 
quite certain that the pretensions of the Popes, 
if they should interfere in civil matters, would 
now only be laughed at; that we have the 
solemn assurances, nay oaths, of the Irish 
Prelates that they would spurn any mandates 



* Essai Historique, t. ii. p. 320. 



110 WHY THE PRETENSIONS OF THE POPE 

from Rome which were inconsistent with their 
allegiance to their lawful sovereign. 

All this, for aught I know, may be very 
readily believed ; for, to say the truth, there is 
pretty strong proof that, even in Ireland, the 
Pope, acting of his own mere motion, proprio 
suo motu, as he is wont to say, would be one of 
the most harmless of all the innumerable per- 
formers on that busy stage. I have no doubt 
that the bishops would manage very effectually 
to keep him from exercising any power to his 
own aggrandisement. They have testified quite 
sufficiently their independence on the Court of 
Rome : and the Bulls and Briefs of the Vatican, 
issuing in defiance of their authority, would be 
the most innocuous instruments imaginable. 
This is apparent from the contempt with which 
they scrupled not to treat the Jubilee of 
last year, and still more from their undisguised 
resistance to the Papal Rescript, which issued 
some years ago, in favour of the promised 
.Veto. 

But does it, therefore, follow, that the ancient 
and never disclaimed pretensions of the Papacy 
to a right of at least indirect interference in 
temporal matters, are absolutely nugatory ? that 
a prudent government may treat them with as 



ARE STILL DANGEROUS IN IRELAND. .Ill 

much contempt, as they would the ravings of 
fifth-monarchy men, or the dreams of Muggle- 
tonians? Far from it — the Pope, though a most 
powerless principal, would be a most effective 
ally — and, as such, under the skilful direction 
of an Irish hierachy, not distinguished, like Dr. 
Doyle, for meekness, loyalty, and every peace- 
ful virtue which becomes a Christian Bishop, 
he might be enabled to bring into prompt 
and vigorous action many of those slumbering 
energies, the occasional display of which excites 
at present only a passing feeling of wonder or 
contempt. 

The truth is, that the very peculiar condition 
of Ireland renders this a matter of much greater 
likelihood, and even facility, there, than it could 
be in any other country in Christendom. Where 
the Sovereign is himself a professed member of 
the Church of Rome, he can, in modern days, 
have little to apprehend from any pretensions 
of the Pope. For, besides that the policy of 
the Vatican is commonly disposed, in such a 
case, to accept, with apparent contentment, 
just so much of deference and respect, as the 
prince may be induced to give, the people them- 
selves, satisfied with the outward demonstra- 
tions of their prince's orthodoxy, and general 
obedience to the Holy See in spirituals, are easily 



112 WHY THE PRETENSIONS OF THE POPE 

quieted in respect to any degree of hostility to 
which their sovereign may proceed in temporal 
matters. Thus it was, that the most bigotted 
nation in Europe could hear, with composure, 
that the armies of their " most Catholic" monarch 
had sacked Rome, and consigned the Holy 
Father himself to a dungeon: — thus too " the 
" most Christian" King, " the eldest Son of the 
" Church," has been able to set at nought the 
dearest claims of the Vatican, and to establish 
for his national Church a scheme of liberties, 
which Rome, when it dares, scruples not to 
treat as downright heresies. 

Again, in countries where the sovereign is at 
once Protestant and absolute, the flexible na- 
ture of papal policy readily accommodates itself 
to the necessities of the case — accepts all it can 
get with the best grace possible — consents, for 
instance, as in Russia and Silesia, that the mo- 
narch shall absolutely nominate every bishop, 
but takes care to save appearances by nominating 
the same persons, and investing them with the 
insignia of their office, as of its own free choice f 

In England, where (thank God !) the sovereign 
is Protestant and not absolute, and where the 
spirit of the constitution and the universal feel- 
ings of the nation, forbid such direct interfer- 
ence with the religious ordinances of a dissenting 



ARE STILL DANGEROUS IX IRELAND. 113 



Church — not only does the immense prepon- 
derance of a Protestant population, but also (I 
admit the gratifying truth with heartfelt plea- 
sure) the tried loyalty, the genuine British 
spirit, of our Roman-Catholic countrymen them- 
selves, afford a powerful security against all 
the worst exorbitances of either papal or priestly 
ambition. 

But in Ireland, where it would, unhappily, 
be idle mockery to talk of the tried loyalty and 
genuine British spirit of the great mass of its 
Roman-Catholic inhabitants, there exists almost 
every motive, and every facility, which can 
tempt an ambitious hierarchy to abuse the means 
which their religion so abundantly supplies for 
the aggrandisement of their order, and the ex- 
altation of their Church. Among these means, 
the old pretensions of the Pope, kept in due 
subservience to the interests of the Bishops, 
would be not the least effectual. 

This is not mere theory. Its truth is written 
in characters of blood in the history of Ireland 
itself: and be it always remembered, that while 
the lights and intelligence of other nations have 
been incalculably progressive, the Irish (the 
Roman-Catholic Irish multitude, I mean) con- 
tinue nearly what they were in the middle of 
the seventeenth century, in the days of Ormond 



114 NECESSITY OF SOME SECURITY FOR THE 



and Rinuccini. That multitude could again be 
stimulated by an ambitious priesthood to defeat 
the honest efforts of the nobles and the gen- 
try of the land, whose wishes and whose views 
must always ultimately be for peace — and to 
replunge their country in all the horrors of civil 
war. 

Hence it is, that some effectual security for 
the loyalty and peaceable demeanour of the 
clergy, particularly of the Bishops, ought to be 
deemed an indispensable part of any plan for 
the permanent pacification of Ireland. Surely, 
such an observation cannot be deemed ill-timed, 
when the most popular and powerful prelate 
among them, who has admitted in his sworn 
testimony before parliament,* that " Insurrec- 
" tion is one of the offences, for which a bishop 
" might with great propriety excommunicate;" 
for " any revolt against the state is one of the 
" most grave of offences" — has yet not scrupled 
to declare in a public Letter^ to a member of 
the House of Commons, that (S the Minister of 
" England cannot look to the exertions of the 
" Catholic priesthood" in the tremendous con- 
flict which he denounces as at hand; " they 
" have been ill-treated, and they may yield for 

* Lords, p. 506. 

f Letter of Dr. Doyle to A. Robertson, Esq. M. P. p. 4. 



LOYALTY OF R. C. BISHOPS IN IRELAND, 115 

" a moment to the influence of nature, though 
" it be opposed to grace. This clergy, with 
" few exceptions, are from the ranks of the 
" people, they inherit their feelings." — "If a re- 
" bellion were raging from Carrickfergus to Cape 
" Clear, no sentence of excommunication would ever 
" be fulminated by a Catholic prelate.''' 

Nor is this Letter the only proof which the 
same individual has given of the readiness of 
the present Roman-Catholic hierarchy of Ireland 
to enkindle the flames of civil discord in that 
devoted country. The Letters published with 
the abbreviated designation of his episcopal 
title,* contain more of the worst poison of sedi- 
tion, than can be found, even in these days, in 
any other writings of equal bulk. 

While, therefore, I see one of these prelates 
thus placing himself in the foremost ranks of 
the seditious array, I cannot join in the con- 
tempt, which it has been the fashion to express, 
for the proposed measure of a veto in the 
appointment to the Roman-Catholic sees in 
Ireland; and if it be wise to take counsel from 
the conduct or the language of an enemy, (as in 
all that relates to the Church of Rome, we may 

•* I. K. L.— James Kildave and LeigMin . 
1 2 



116 dr. doyle's evidence on interference 

be sure it is,) we shall find increased reason for 
hoping, that the British legislature will demand 
this security, in the great, and, on all honest 
grounds, unaccountable, reluctance of the Irish 
prelates to grant it. 

And here we are again brought to the evidence 
before the Committees, particularly that of Dr. 
Doyle, on 

INTERFERENCE IN THE APPOINTMENT OF 
IRISH ROMAN-CATHOLIC BISHOPS. 

The Committee of the House of Commons 
asks, whether, " if temporalities were attached 
" to the Roman-Catholic sees in Ireland, it 
" would be inconsistent with the doctrine or 
6i discipline of that Church to admit any inter- 
" ference on the part of the Protestant Sove- 
" reign of this country in the appointments?" 
page 180. And Dr. Doyle distinctly answers, 
" It would be inconsistent with the discipline of the 
" Roman- Catholic Church to admit, in such cases, 
" the interference of a Protestant Sovereign in 
t( such appointments " He afterwards adds, that 
by interference, he means i6 all interference, direct 
or indirect T — p. 181. 

The Committee, somewhat surprised appa- 
rently at this declaration, remind him that 



IN THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS. 117 



" arrangements of that nature are admitted in 
" some such cases, where the Sovereign is not 
" a member of the Roman-Catholic Church.'' 
Dr. Doyle answers, that "he knows of arrange- 
" ments of that kind, though he does not know 
" the nature of them exactly; that he is not 
" acquainted with the circumstances of those 
" other Protestant countries, but that knowing 
" the state of his own country, he would resign 
" his station in the Church rather than concur 
" in such an arrangement, though it were con- 
" sidered by the Pope practicable, or even 
" wise." 

" Were the Sovereign of this realm a Catholic " 
he adds, " I should be very averse to his having 
" the appointment of Bishops vested in him; but 
" his being of a different religion makes me 
*? think, that I could not, consistently at all with 
" the principles of my religion, consent to his 
" having any right to interfere directly or indi- 
" rectly with the appointment of bishops." — 
Ibid. 

To the former part of this sentence I will beg 
leave, in passing, to invite the particular atten- 
tion of my Protestant readers. They contain 
a pregnant intimation (somewhat incautiously 
given, I suspect) of 'the real extent of Dr. 
Doyle's scruples. " He would be averse even 



118 



DR. DOYLE S EVIDENCE 



" to a Sovereign of his own religion having the 
" appointment of Bishops vested in him;" in 
other words, he would not be satisfied with the 
state of things, as they stood in this country, 
or in Ireland, at any period of modern history. 
For never was there a time, when the constitu- 
tion of these countries (at least since they have 
been under the same rule) permitted such a 
degree of independence in the hierarchy on the 
crown, as Dr. Doyle here informs us he should 
think necessary. I will not dwell on the point, 
I will only ask the admirers of this prelate, 
whether they seriously think that the judgment 
of a person so directly opposed to the funda- 
mental principles of the British Constitution, 
do indeed deserve all the extravagant eulogies 
which have been heaped upon him. 

And here his examination on this subject 
ceases for a while. It is subsequently revived 
(page 189) by the casual mention of Quaran- 
totti's rescript, which, it will be remembered, 
conceded to the crown, under certain circum- 
stances, a negative in the appointment of Irish 
R. C. Bishops. I will beg leave to follow this 
part of the examination rather minutely, as it 
presents a peculiarly happy specimen of Dr. 
Doyle's characteristic adroitness. 

<£ In that rescript, was not the power of the 



ON RESCRIPT OF QUARANTOTTI. 



119 



i( crown to interfere with the nomination of 
" bishops, recognized as not inconsistent with 
" the diseiplineof the Catholic Church?"— A." It 
" was recognized by a man who outstripped his 
" authority, who was incompetent to decide on a 
" matter of so much moment : but though it had 
" happened to have proceeded from higher 
" authority in Rome, we would have acted as 
" we did; that is, the prelates would, for I was 
" not then a bishop, they would have remon- 
" strated, as they did." 

But the Committee, as Dr. Doyle finds, are 
not so manageable on this subject, as on matters 
more purely theological. " Are we to under- 
" stand from you," they ask, " that this rescript 
" of Quarantotti's did not come from the see of 
" Rome?'" — A. " It did come from the see of 
" Rome; but the Pope being then a prisoner 
" in France, his spiritual jurisdiction was vested 
" in certain persons, of whom Quarantotti was 
" the third; and he, by the removal of the two 
" before him, happened to remain in possession 
" of those powers, and began to exercise them, 
" and not being at all acquainted with our affairs, 
" gave this rescript, upon an application from 
" some interested person." " He was a cardi- 
" nal, was he not?"^ — " He was afterwards ap- 



120 



QUARANTOTTI. 



is pointed a cardinal; he had some merit with the 
" Pope, but his appointment ivas not the reward of 
" his conduct towards us." 

We may remark, by the way, that although 
Dr. Doyle on some occasions exhibits the most 
edifying discretion in not presuming to judge 
how others, even of his own brethren, would 
act under given circumstances, yet he now and 
then has not the smallest objection to answer 
for the actions and motives of persons, over 
whom it does not appear that he has any direct 
influence whatever. In the present instance, 
whether Quarantotti's merits in this matter of 
the rescript were, or were not, such as to entitle 
him to the purple, at least his being advanced 
to that dignity looks as if the Pope did not agree 
with Dr. Doyle in his notion of the cardinal's 
demerits. But more of Quarantotti presently. 

The Committee, being, I repeat, more intract- 
able than usual, proceed to ask, " Whether the 
" witness is not aware, that the principle of that 
" rescript has been acted upon in the concordats, 
" which have taken place between the Pope 
" and Protestant States; that it is a doctrine 
" recognised by the see of Rome itself in treaties it 
" has made?"— Dr. Doyle, who certainly is not 
dull of apprehension, is pleased to answer this 



DR. DOYLE S PREVARICATION. 



121 



question in a manner, for which nothing but 
extreme dullness, or some less venial quality, 
can tolerably account. — A. " Being ignorant of 
" the circumstances of Russia and Prussia, I 
" can neither approve nor disapprove what may 
" have been done in treaties with those coun- 
" tries." 

The Committee, however, will not here be 
cajoled. They press him again in still more 
pointed terms, and limit their inquiry now to 
Quarantotti's rescript to Dr. Doyle's own coun- 
try, Ireland. " Was not the principle, upon which 
" that rescript of Quarantotti was founded, the 
*■ principle to which you say the Catholic pre- 
" lates would object?" — Still Dr. Doyle is not 
abashed : he determines to try one more expe- 
riment on the good sense or patience of the 
Committee, and has the confidence to answer 
them as follows. " Being ignorant of the trea- 
" ties, I cannot say, whether the principle was 
" the same, or not." (What had " the treaties" 
to do with the question?) Happily, however, 
the Committee are here as firm, as Dr. Doyle 
is slippery; and they put to him a question, 
from which there is no escape, but in manifest 
prevarication. " Is not the general principle 
" in that rescript, the interference of a Protestant 



122 



DR. DOYLE'S PREVARICATION. 



" sovereign in the appointment of Bishops?" — 
A. " Circumstances affect principles so as almost 
" to change them in their operation. I could 
" not therefore recognize the principle, because it 
" may be so modified, as to be changed alto- 
" gether in its operation, from what it would 
■* be, in the view we take of it, as regards our 
" own country." 

The question, we see, is on a matter of fact, 
whether such is the general principle in that 
rescript; the answer is, that the witness does 
not himself think it proper to recognize that 
principle: — and with this the Committee are 
contented. Perhaps, indeed, they could do no 
better, than to make the witness expose, beyond 
the possibility of gainsaying, his resolution not 
to give a plain answer to any questions which 
he wished to evade. 

Let us now return to Quarantotti. He is 
made an object of contempt not only to Dr. 
Doyle, but also to Dr. Murray, who is pleased 
to call him " a very weak old man:" and the 
only apparent ground for all this indelicate abuse 
of an Ecclesiastic of their own Church, greatly 
their superior in rank and function, is his having 
forwarded this rescript to Ireland, acknowledg- 
ing the fitness of giving to the crown a veto in 



DR. DOYLE'S PREVARICATION. 



123 



the appointment of Roman-Catholic Bishops. 
Dr. Doyle, we have seen, roundly asserts " that 
" he outstripped his authority in doing this, 
" and that he was incompetent to decide on a 
" matter of so much moment." 

Here the matter rested for a while; and if 
the Committee had depended for information 
solely on Dr. Doyle and Dr. Murray, they and 
the world would have been induced to believe, 
that this admission of a veto had never any- 
higher authority than the much slandered Qua- 
rantotti. What then must have been the feel- 
ings of the Committee, what will be the judge- 
ment of the public, when informed, that the 
Pope himself, in an official letter through the 
prefect of Propaganda Fide, Cardinal Litta, 
dated Genoa, 26th April, 1815, gave his express 
and formal assent to that very measure? This 
is stated to the Committee by Mr. Phelan, page 
484, and reluctantly admitted by Dr. Murray, 
page 650, when he is afterwards called in again 
for the very purpose, apparently, of removing 
the impression made by Mr. Phelan and other 
Protestant witnesses. 

Thus then the case stands. Dr. Doyle affirms 
that 16 it would be" (not unwise, not inexpedient, 
but) '* inconsistent with the discipline of the Roman- 
" Catholic Church to admit any interference di- 



124 



PREVARICATION OF BR. DOYLE. 



" rect or indirect of the Protestant Sovereign 
" of this country in the appointment of Roman- 
" Catholic bishops in Ireland." He says this, 
not as expressing his own private opinion, but 
as a prelate solemnly delivering the recognized 
doctrine of his Church — he says it, too, without 
limitation or restriction, without implying, or 
in any way intimating, that there is the slightest 
doubt on the subject — much less, that the lan- 
guage or practice of his Church has ever been 
contrary to it: — and yet we find, that when Dr. 
Doyle spoke thus, he knew, not only that the 
Pope has made treaties with other Protestant 
states, involving " arrangements of that kind, 
though Dr. Doyle knew not the nature of them 
exactly;" not only, that even to Ireland a re- 
script, recognizing and admitting such interfer- 
ence in the strong form of a veto, had been sent 
from the see of Rome by a person empowered 
to execute the functions of the captive Pope — 
but also thai the Pope himself had, in an official 
letter, expressly approved and sanctioned the 
granting of a veto to our own Protestant govern- 
ment. — And now let those who still doubt of 
the illusory and disingenuous character of Dr. 
Doyle's evidence look back to the questions 
cited from it above, page 493 — 5; let them see, 
whether he does not there manifestly imply, 



PREVARICATION OF DR. DOYLE. 



125 



that the Pope has not given his sanction to the 
veto. Why else should he dwell on the hypo- 
thetical case, what the conduct of the Irish R. 
C. Bishops would be, if the Pope should give 
his sanction to such an arrangement? Why, too, 
should he say, or, rather, hoiv could he say with 
truth, " T think the Pope would not sanction it"?* 
Such, then, is the result of Dr. Doyle's ex- 
amination on this subject before the Committee 
of the Lower House. His exhibition of himself 
before the Lords is not less remarkable. But 
in order that it should be fully appreciated, it 
is necessary I should remind my readers, that, 
previously to the Union with Ireland, Mr. Pitt 
proposed to give an independent provision to 
the Roman- Catholic clergy, receiving in return 
certain securities which were deemed by him 
indispensable. That proposal was communi- 
cated to the Roman-Catholic prelates of Ireland, 
who, having held a meeting in Dublin to deli- 
berate on it, on the 17th, 18th and 19th of 
January, 1799, came to certain Resolutions, of 
which the following are all that are important 
to our present purpose. 

<c It was admitted, that a provision, through government, 
<f for the Roman -Catholic Clergy of this Kingdom (Ireland), 
w competent and secured, ought to be thankfully received. 

* Commons, p. 180, 



126 



RESOLUTIONS OF IRISH 



<f That, in the appointment of the prelates of the Roman- 
" Catholic Religion to vacant sees within the kingdom, such 
u interference of government, as may enahle it to be satisfied of 
" the loyalty of the person appointed, 'is just, and ought to be 
" agreed to. 

" That, to give this principle its full operation, without 
<l infringing the discipline of the Roman-Catholic Church, or 
" diminishing the religious influence which prelates of that 
" Church ought justly to possess over their respective flocks, 
" the following regulations seem necessary: — 

** First. — In the vacancy of a see, the clergy of the diocese 
*f to recommend, as usual, a candidate to the prelates of the 
" ecclesiastical province, who elect him, or any other they may 
" think more worthy, by a majority of suffrages. 

ic Fourth. — The candidates so selected to be presented by the 
" president of the election to government, which, within one 
" month after such presentation, will transmit the name of the 
(C said candidate, if no objection be made against him, for ap- 
" pointment to the holy see, or return the said name to the 
" president of the election, for such transmission, as may be 
" agreed on. 

" Fifth. — If government have any proper objection against 
(t such candidates, the president of the election will be informed 
" thereof, within one month after presentation, who, in that 
" case, will convene the electors to the election of another can- 
" didate. 

" Agreeably to the discipline of the Roman-Catholic Church, 
" these regulations can have no effect without the sanction of 
" the Holy See, which sanction the Roman-Catholic prelates of 
<c this kingdom shall, as soon as may be, use their endeavours 
(( to procure." 

These resolutions were signed by the four 
Roman-Catholic Metropolitans and by six senior 
Bishops. The defeat of Mr. Pitt's project, as 



KOMAN-CATHOLIC PRELATES rN 1799. 12? 



far as it regarded the Roman-Catholics, pre- 
vented any degree of publicity being given to 
these resolutions, till the year 1808. 

It will be remembered, that in May of that 
year, Dr. Milner, the accredited agent of the 
Irish Roman-Catholic prelates, authorized cer- 
tain distinguished members of both houses of 
parliament to announce " the readiness of those 
" prelates to concede to the crown an effectual 
" negative in the appointment to Irish Roman- 
u Catholic sees," and that he afterwards dis- 
claimed the authority which he was said to 
have given. - It was not, however, till the fol- 
lowing September, that the prelates assembled 
in Dublin resolved, that it was inexpedient to 
give such negative to the crown; and even then 
Dr. O'Reilly, their primate, answered the re- 
monstrances of the Roman-Catholics of the 
county of Lowth against this decision, in a let- 
ter to Lord Southwell and Sir Edward Bellew, 
of which the following is the most important 
passage : — " I am certain, that the prelates did 
" not mean to decide that the admission of a veto 
" on the part of the crown, with the consent of 
" the Holy See, in the election of the Roman- 
" Catholic bishops, would be contrary to the doc- 
" trine of the Roman- Catholic Church, or to any 
" practice or usage essentially or indispensably 



128 RESOLUTIONS OF IRISH R. C. PRELATES. 

" connected with the Roman-Catholic religion: — 
" the objections, raised against a negative, are 
" of a temporary nature, resulting from existing 
" circumstances." 

Such was the language of the Roman-Catholic 
primate, in explanation of the decision to which 
himself and his brethren had come in Septem- 
ber, 1808. 

Of the discussions which followed — the state- 
ments and counter-statements — the speeches 
and pamphlets — the meetings for the purpose 
of questioning or applauding that decision, it is 
not necessary that I should say anything. But 
early in these discussions, the resolutions passed 
by the Prelates in 1799 were publicly brought 
forwards; and it is obvious, that they could 
not but form a most prominent and important 
object in the view taken by all, who bore a part 
in that long, eager, and scarcely yet terminated 
Controversy. In truth, they became, from the 
hour of their being made known, one of the 
most notorious and interesting particulars in 
the history of the Roman-Catholics of Ireland. 

These matters it has been necessary to re- 
count, in order to give full effect to the following 
sworn testimony of Dr. Doyle : — 

" Did not the Irish Roman-Catholic bishops, 
" in 1799, and May, 1808, agree to give to this 



DR. DOYLE 's STATEMENT OF THE RESOLUTIONS. 129 

" country the right of interference in the nomi- 
e< nation of bishops?'' A. " I think the resolu- 
" tion to which the question refers did not go 
" so far as the question supposes. / believe 
" they resolved, that it was reasonable to afford 
" to his Majesty the means of ascertaining the 
" loyalty of the person to be appointed to sees 
" in Ireland. Now, I conceive that such means 
" can be furnished to the sovereign without 
(( granting to him a right to interfere directly 
" or indirectly with such appointment ; and 
" therefore / think that the bishops, who passed 
(( the resolution to which the question refers, might 
" not have agreed to the principle of sanction- 
" ing a direct or indirect interference on the part 
" of a Protestant sovereign with the appoint- 
" ment of bishops in the Catholic Church." 

Now this, it is manifest, was at least a very 
fortunate mode of disposing of the question. It 
did not commit the witness to any direct denial, 
and yet it would have been quite sufficient to 
get rid of the difficulty, if his examiners had 
been only tolerably accommodating. But the 
Lords (as Dr. Doyle has found in other instances) 
are sometimes very troublesome in their en- 
quiries. In the present instance they propose 
the most distressing question imaginable. " Did 

K 



130 dr. doyle's evidence on 

" not these bishops retract that consent in 
" September, 1808, and February, 1810?"* 

Here is an unfortunate position for our witness 
to be placed in! To deny the retractation is 
impossible ; but to admit it, after his answer to 
the last question, would be no less than to admit 
that the Roman Catholic prelates had retracted 
a resolution, " that it was reasonable to afford to 
" his Majesty the means of ascertaining the loyalty 
" of persons to be appointed to sees in Ireland." 
What could be done ? A witness of ordinary 
ingenuity would have endeavoured to slide out 
of the dilemma in some such way as this : 
" I perceive that I must have been in error, 
" when I answered the last question, and I 
" request your lordships to ascribe it to my 
" ignorance of the exact purport of the resolu- 
" tions about which you enquire." But not so 
Dr. Doyle. His spirit and resources rise with 
his difficulties; and he manfully proceeds to 
strike the most ingenious, as well as the boldest, 
stroke which the annals of impromptu testimony 
ever recorded. 

" The retraction, I should suppose, ought to 
" be understood of the resolution before passed, 
" when taken in the sense in which your 

* Lords, p. 228. 



RESOLUTIONS OF IRISH R. C. PRELATES. 131 

" lordships seem to have understood it ; but 
" had it been understood in the sense in which 
" it was meant or intended, when passed by 
({ them, probably they need never have passed 
" a second resolution, which would seem to 
" imply a retraction of the former." 

To comment on this answer would be super- 
fluous. And so the noble examiners themselves 
appear to have thought. But the ingenuity of 
the witness entitled him to a little consideration ; 
and, accordingly, some good-natured lord was 
pleased to cover his retreat with the following 
most satisfactory suggestions : " Can you recol- 
" lect the precise words of those resolutions ?" 
" 1 cannot recollect them." " You were not at 
" the time a bishop of the Roman Catholic 
"church?" "I was not."— p. 227. 

So much for the resolutions of 1799. Dr. 
Doyle afterwards tells their lordships that to 
assent "to the Crown of this Protestant country 
" exercising any influence in the appointment 
" of Roman Catholic bishops," or to "permit a 
" sovereign, professing a religion different from 
" theirs, to interfere with the election of bishops," 
would be to " introduce a principle into the 
" Catholic church, that has never been found to 
" exist there before." — p. 228. 

To set Dr. Doyle right in this particular, and 
k 2 



132 INTERFERENCE BY GOVERNMENT 

to satisfy the legislature, if they should ever 
think fit to insist on exercising such interference, 
that it is not unprecedented,* I will beg leave 
to state, on the authority of Roman Catholic 
writers, of Dr. O'Conor, and of Sandini 
Baronius, and Pagi, cited by him, that, in all 
cases, the confirmation, and, in some, the elec- 
tion, of the Popes themselves was exercised, 
with the assent of the Roman Church, by all 
the Gothic kings of Italy, whether Catholics or 
Avians, from the reign of Odoacer to the Em- 
peror Justinian ; and that the Greek emperors 
claimed and exercised the same privilege from 
the reign of Justinian to the Pontificate of 
Gregory III. A similar course is at this day 
pursued in all, or almost all, the Protestant 
states of continental Europe, as appears from 
the " Report of the Select Committee of the 
" House of Commons on the Regulation of 
" Roman Catholic subjects in foreign states," 
in the year 1816. 

Nay, it further appears from the same autho- 
rity, that our own government actually exer- 
cises this power in Canada, p. 478 ; and has 
received the thanks of the Chapter of Malta 
for " raising to the high episcopal dignity of 



* Columbanus, Let. I. p. 58. 



IN THE ELECTION OF It. C. BISHOPS. 133 

" that diocese, a native of that island, and for 
*' assuring them that no other than a Maltese 
" shall ever be bishop there." — p. 486. 

Really, with all these instances staring us in 
the face, we must be permitted to feel, and 
express, some degree of surprise at the hardi- 
hood of Dr. Doyle's assertions. 

OATH TO THE POPE. 

Nearly connected with the necessity of some 
adequate assurance of the loyalty of Roman 
Catholic prelates is a consideration of the bath 
by which they are bound to the Pope. 

That oath is as follows : for I scruple not to 
burden my pages with a formula, which is, in 
every respect, most important, and cannot be 
too well known to every member of this Pro- 
testant state. 

(The parts of this oath printed in Italics are additions made 
to the form of oath prescribed in the Decretal, lib. 2. tit. 24. 
ch. 10.) 

" I, N. N. Archbishop or Bishop of the church N. will 
ft henceforward be faithful and obedient to St. Peter the Apostle, 
" and the Holy Roman Catholic Church, and to our Lord N. 
" Pope, and his successors canonically instituted. I will not in 
" council, in consent, or in deed, be accessary to their losing 
' * life or limb ; or that they be taken by wrongful caption ; or 
" violent hands, in any sort, be laid upon them; or any injuries 
" inflicted, under any pretence whatever. Moreover, the counsel 
" which they shall entrust to me by themselves, or by their 



134 



OATH TO THE POPE. 



" Nuncios, or by letters, I will not disclose to any one to their 
" loss knowingly. The Roman Papacy and the Royalties of St. 
" Peter* I will assist them to retain, and defend (salvo meo 
" ordine) against every man. The Legate of the Apostolic 
" See, in his journeys to and fro, I will honorably entertain, and 
" will assist in all his needs. The rights, the honors, privileges, 
" and authority of the Holy Roman Church, of our Lord the 
" Rope, and of his successors aforesaid, I will take care to pre- 
" serve, defend, augment, and promote. Neither will I be in 
" counsel, nor in act, or enterprise, in which any things be 
" devised against the same our Lord, or the same the Church, 
" hurtful or prejudicial to their persons, right, honor, state, or 
" power. And if L shall know any such things treated of, or 
" prepared, J will hinder it, to the best of my power; and as soon 
" as L can, will signify it to the same our Lord, or to some other 
" by whom it may come to his knowledge. The rules of the Holy 
" Fathers, decrees, ordinances, or dispositions , reservations, pro- 
" visions, and mandates Apostolic, L will observe with all my might, 
" and will make to be observed by others. When called to a 
" Synod I will come, unless I shall be prevented by a canonical 
" impediment. The Apostolic residence I will visitf myself in 
" person every ten years j J and to our Lord and his successors, 
<c aforesaid, will render accompt concerning my pastoral office, 
" and concerning all things to the state of my church, to the 
" discipline of my clergy and people, appertaining; and the man- 
" dates Apostolic given thereupon L will humbly receive, and with 
" all diligence perform. Rut if by any legitimate impediment L 
" shall be detained, all the things aforesaid L will fulfil by a sure 
" messenger, having special commission for that purpose, out of 
u the bosom of my chapter, or another placed in a dignity eccle- 

* Regalia Petri is substituted in this modern oath for regulas Sanctorum 
Patrum in the oath in the Decretal. 

+ " Or by my sure messenger" is added in the Decretal, as also " unless 
" I shall be released by their license." 

+ Singulis annis in the Decretal. 



OATH TO THE POPE. 



135 



'* siastical, or otherwise having a parsonage, or, in defect of 
f * these, by a diocesan priest ; and if there be no clergy, by some 
" secular or regular Presbyter of tried probity and religion, fully 
" instructed concerning all the things aforesaid. But, respecting 
" the impediment aforesaid, I will give lawful proofs, to be trans- 
" mitted through my said messenger to the Cardinal of the Holy 
" Roman Church, prefect of the congregation De propaganda Fide. 
" Moreover, the possessions to my table appertaining, I will Jiot 
'? sell, nor give, nor pledge, nor put in feoff age anew, or in any way 
" alienate, even under the consent of the chapter of my church, 
" without first consulting the Roman Pontiff. These things all and 
" severally I will the more inviolably observe, the more assured I 
" am that nothing is contained therein which can conflict with my 
" due fidelity towards the most serene King of Great Britain and 
" Ireland, and the successors to his throne. So help me God, 
and these Holy Gospels of God. 

" So do I, N. N. Archbishop or Bishop of the church N. 
" promise and engage." 

Of this oath Dr. Curtis, Roman Catholic 
Primate of all Ireland, is pleased to say, " It has 
" been sometimes called an oath of allegiance, 
" but that is very false, it is not an oath of 
" allegiance;' " It is called the oath of fidelity, 
" merely to distinguish it from the oath that 
" every priest when ordained takes to the 
" bishop, because it is to a higher personage ; 
" but it means nothing more than canonical 
" obedience, the obedience which the canons of 
" the Church, or general councils, require to be 
" paid to the Pope, as head of the Church. 
" Not that we are to believe it, merely because 



136 



SALVO MEO OHDINE 



" he says iff- (q. what does it refer to ?) " no, 
" we may remonstrate against any thing which 

" we feel to be wrong. " # 

Dr. Doyle says of the same oath,| "We 
" take the oath of canonical obedience to the Pope, 
" ivhich means that we are to obey him as the head 
" of the Church, according, or agreeably, to the 
" discipline as found established in the sacred 
" canons T 

Now let me request my readers to examine 
the oath, and see whether there is any thing in 
it which limits the fidelity and obedience there 
promised, to the discipline established in the 
sacred canons ? Will Dr. Curtis tell us what 
are the sacred canons, what the general councils, 
which command the particulars there recounted? 
Has he, or has Dr. Doyle, been pleased to point 
out the passages on which they rest their inter- 
pretation ? Yes ; Dr. Doyle has favoured us 
with the important clue — it is contained in the 
words " salvo meo ordine ; which implies," says 
he, " that the obedience which we promise to him is 
' ' not to be understood so as to trench upon our own 
" rights as Bishops, or any rights of the church 
" in which we are bishops" 

Really these three stout words have a very 
heavy burthen laid upon them, and they are 



* Lords, p. 257. 



f lb. p. 224, 5, 



EXPLAINED. 



137 



placed in the most unaccountable of all possible 
positions to enable them to sustain it. Let my 
readers look back once more upon the oath, and 
examine whether, according to the ordinary use 
of language, any thing like Dr. Doyle's meaning 
can fairly be deduced from the little parenthesis, 
to which he does so much honour. The usual 
function of a parenthesis is to explain or limit 
the meaning of the particular sentence, or clause 
of a sentence, in which it is inserted. Accord- 
ingly, in the passage before us, the real appli- 
cation of salvo meo ordine must be sought in 
the words defendendum contra omnemhominem. 
" The Roman Papacy, and the regalia of St. 
" Peter, I will assist them (the Popes) to retain 
" and defend (salvo meo ordine) against every 
" man ;" in other words, to defend by means and 
in a manner consistent with my order as a Bishop. 
Such is the true force of salvo meo ordine ; 
which seems here to mean no more, nor less, 
than the old exemption from personal military 
service, granted to the clergy ; # and by taking 
the words in this their fair and natural order, the 
meaning of the whole becomes perfectly clear, 
instead of being, as it otherwise would be, 

* As the canons attach irregularity to the shedding of blood, 
the clause " salvo meo ordine" exempts the bishops from per- 
sonal service. 



138 



ANCIENT OATH 



utterly irreconcileable with any ordinary rule 
of construction or grammar.* 

The truth is that this oath is altogether of a 
feudal character. Its very language is feudal. 
Among other particulars, the phrase nec de 
novo infeudabo, applied to the temporal pos- 
sessions there supposed, shews that the bishops 
hold their possessions as a feudal tenure of the 
Pope. The oath indeed had its origin not merely 
in the feudal times, but in the pretensions of the 
Pope to be the supreme feudal chief, of whom 
all temporal princes, even emperors and kings, 
were feudatories and vassals. After what I have 
already said I need not detain my readers by citing 
proof of the long existence of these pretensions. 
Dr. Doyle himself admits it, in the 6th and 7th 
section of his new " Essay." Nay, he goes 
further, he admits that this oath was first taken 
in the feudal times, though he ascribes a much 
earlier origin to it than can be conceded. He 
ascribes it to " an Englishman, Boniface, 
" Bishop of Mayence" — page 245. But the 
oath taken by Boniface (who lived in the eighth 
century) was of a very different tenor ; it was 
nothing more than a declaration " to St. Peter, 

* The Edinburgh Review is so delighted with this clause 
salvo meo ordine, and assents so cordially to Dr. Doyle's con- 
struction, that it prints it in the largest capitals. 



TO THE POPE. 



139 



" and the Pope, that he holds and persists in 
" the unity of the true faith; that he exhibits 
" in every thing faith, purity, and co-operation 
" with Peter and the utilities of his Church ; 
" that if he shall know of any prelates contra- 
" vening the institutes of the ancient Holy 
" Fathers, he will have no communion with 
" them, but will denounce them to his Apostolic 
" Lord."* 

* Vide Baron, ad aim. 723. Pontifex eum consecravit 
Episcopum ; Et ut ad obedientiam sibi suisque successoribus ex- 
hibendam, omnemque sacrae fidei traditionemobservandaru arctius 
eum astringeret, juraraentum ab eo exegit et *accepit; quod 
quidem in antiquis exemplaribus ita scriptum habetur. 

" I, Boniface, Bishop by the grace of God, promise to thee, 
" O blessed Peter, chief of the Apostles, and to thy blessed 
" Vicar, Pope Gregory, and to his successors, by the Father, 
" Son, and Holy Ghost, the Trinity inseparable, and this thy 
tf most sacred body, that I do exhibit all faith and purity to the 
" Holy Catholic faith, and in the unity of the same faith, with 
" the help of God, do continue, wherein all the salvation of 
" Christians, without doubt, is proved to be : that in no way 
" do I consent, under the persuasion of any one, against the 
" unity of the common and universal Church 5 but, as I said, 
" that I do in all things exhibit my faith, purity, and accordance 
" to thee, and to the utilities of thy Church, to whom the 
" power of binding and loosing has been given by God, and 
" to thy Vicar aforesaid, and tg his successors. 

" Moreover if I shall know of any prelates living contrary to 
" the institutes of the ancient Holy Fathers, that with them I 
" have no communion nor conjunction, but rather, if I should 
" be able to prevent, I will prevent them j if not, I will faith- 



140 



SECURITY TAKEN IN SPAIN 



The present is not an occasion to trace, by a 
lengthened detail, the growth of the feudal oath 
from this its feeble root to the full-grown vigorous 
plant, which presents itself to our view in the 
Roman Pontifical, and, with some inconsider- 
able alterations, in the formula now used in 
Ireland. 

But there is a matter of recent history con- 
nected with it, which must not be omitted. 
It shews pretty plainly what is the real value 
ascribed at Rome to the notable addition, made 
by Pius VI. at the end of the oath, to satisfy or 
cajole the good people of England. 

It appears (I quote from the Report of the 
House of Commons in 1816, page 313) that 
about the middle of the last century, the Court 
of Spain, notwithstanding its bigoted attach- 
ment to the Church of Rome, thought it neces- 
sary to secure the rights of the Crown against 

" fully immediately inform my Apostolic Lord. But if, which 
" God forbid, I shall attempt to do any thing, in any way or 
" intent, or occasion, contrary to the tenor of this my promise, 
" may I be a convicted sinner at the everlasting judgment, 
" may I incur the same vengeance as Ananias and Sapphira, 
" who dared to act fraudulently towards you also in respect to 
" their proper possessions. This form of oath likewise I, 
" Boniface, a humble Bishop, have written with my own hand, 
" and placing it on the most sacred body of St. Peter, as is 
" prescribed, in the presence of God, my king and judge, have 
" made oath, which also I promise to observe." 



AGAINST THE OATH TO THE POPE. 141 

the effects of such an allegiance sworn by- 
Bishops to the Pope. An order, therefore, was 
made that " they should, in their oath of 
" consecration, include the clause of fidelity to 
" the King, and of deference to his preroga- 
" tives ;" this has been effected by the following 
words added at the conclusion of the oath, 
6( Salvis regaliis, et legitimis consuetudinibus, 
" usibus, concordiis, legibus, et totd subjectione 
" domini met Ferdinandi Hispaniarum et Indiarum 
" Regis. Sic me Deus adjuvet, &c." 

This is something like a security, and as 
opposite to the miserable subterfuge adopted in 
the Irish oath, as plain dealing is to Jesuitical 
finesse. But the most curious and instructive 
particular remains to be told ; and it stands on 
the same high authority as what has preceded. 
On the restoration of the present King of Spain 
in 1814, the Pope (trusting probably to his 
Majesty's avowed and excessive deference to 
any ordinance of the Church) directed his 
Nuncio to present a Note from the Holy See, 
" wherein it was required, that the above-cited 
" clause respecting the obedience and deference 
" to the royal perogatives, should be omitted 
" in the oath taken by the Archbishops and 
" Bishops of Spain at the time of their conse- 
" cration." His Holiness was, however, dis- 



142 



OATH TO THE POPE, 



appointed ; even the council of Ferdinand VII. 
in all the fervour of their devotion to Catholi- 
cism, and under circumstances the most pro- 
pitious to his suit that could be devised, refused 
to gratify him ; and yet English statesmen are 
confidently asked to blind themselves to the 
dangerous character of an oath, which even 
Spain, in this its darkest day, is not content to 
endure without a real and effective limitation. 

I will not examine all the particulars in the 
oath, as it stands at present, nor state all the 
objections which might be fairly urged against 
it ; such an undertaking would require a volume 
of itself. But I must be allowed to dwell a 
little on one of its clauses, and to ask its advo- 
cates how we are to understand, and in what 
manner they will defend it. " All the rights, 
honours, privileges, and authority of the. Holy 
Roman Church, of our Lord the Pope and of 
his successors, I will take care to preserve, de- 
fend, augment, and promote." 

Now, the legitimate and generally admitted 
rule of interpreting an oath, is, that it be ob- 
served in the sense, in which he, who takes it, 
knows that it is understood by him to whom it 
is taken. Accordingly, Dr. Doyle himself has 
told us, # first, in the words of St. Thomas Aqui- 
* Essay, &c p. 164, 5. 



HOW TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 



143 



nas, " Debet juramentum servari secundum in- 
" tellectum ejus, cui juramentum praestatur:" 
and, afterwards, in his own, 66 This is the doc- 
" trine of Catholics, which it is a crime to 
" depart from. An oath must be kept according 
" to the meaning of him who administers it, or to 
" whom it is sworn" 

In the present instance, the Pope is he who 
administers the oath, and to whom it is sworn. 
According to his sense, therefore, its clauses 
are to be understood and observed. Regarding 
the matter thus, will Dr, Doyle and Dr. Curtis 
tell us, what is the sense in which the Pope un- 
derstands " the rights, honours, privileges, and 
" authority" here mentioned? This is a matter 
of no difficult research. There are bulls upon 
bulls, from the " Unam sanctam" of Boniface 
the Eighth, down to the " Auctorem Fidei" of 
Pius VI. all which assert and maintain the 
right of the Pope to, at least, indirect power in 
the temporal concerns of States. In particular, 
the bull in Coena Domini, of which I have al- 
ready* given some account, and of which Dr. 
Doyle himself does not venture to deny, that it 
is still esteemed in force at Rome,f asserts a 
multiplicity of rights utterly inconsistent with 
the sovereignty or the independence of any 

* See above, p. 473. f Lords, p. 312. 



144 



OATH TO THE POPE. 



civil government. It is notorious, that these are 
the rights, which the Pope, the party to whom 
the oath is taken, understands to be implied in 
the clause in question, these therefore are the 
rights, which, according to Dr. Doyle s own rule, 
(and a very sound rule it is,) every Roman Ca- 
tholic Bishop at his Consecration binds himself on 
oath " to preserve, augment, and promote." 

If further evidence were wanted of the sense 
in which the Popes understand these rights, it 
would not be difficult to produce it in abun- 
dance. But I will not have recourse to any 
document, on which a reasonable question can 
be raised. I will refer to one of the most au- 
thoritative, which can be named, no less than 
the Breviary itself. It may be unknown to 
some of my readers, that Pius V. who, besides 
having burned more heretics than almost any 
of his predecessors, is notorious in history for 
renewing and amplifying the bull in Coena 
Domini, and ordering it to be published on 
Maundy Thursday in all Roman Catholic 
churches (its publication having hitherto been 
limited to Rome); this Pius V., who further 
signalized himself by issuing the bull of excom- 
munication against our own Queen Elizabeth, 
and depriving her of her crown ; this pontiff, 
thus distinguished in history, was, about acen- 



GREGORY VII. SAINTED. 



145 



tury ago, exalted to the rank of Saint; a solemn 
Festival is appointed to his honour, and in one 
of the lessons of the day the highest particular 
in the climax of his praises is " his unconquer- 
<f able vigour in vindicating the rights of the 
" Apostolic See!" We have seen what his 
judgment of these rights was: and that judg- 
ment is accepted and hallowed in the very de- 
votions of the Church of Rome. After this, 
can we with decency be told that the Bishop, 
who swears to preserve and augment those 
rights, may understand them in as lax and ac- 
commodating a sense, as Drs. Curtis and Doyle 
would wish us to believe ? 

But Pius V. is not the only Pope who has 
been canonized for his vigour in these matters. 
A name, far more eminent than his, the noted 
Hildebrand, — that Gregory VII. who claimed 
the universal dominion of the world as an 
appendage of his See, — whose whole life was 
one unceasing effort to realize this claim, — who 
was as little turned aside from the prosecution 
of his holy purpose by considerations of his 
own safety, as by a regard for the peace and 
tranquillity of mankind, — that Gregory, of whom 
Dr. Doyle himself says, that the unhappy Ro- 
dolph, (who had been set up by him to fill the 
Imperial throne, of which he had deprived the 



146 



ST. GREGORY VII. WORSHIPPED 



lawful owner,) when about to pay the forfeit of 
his crime, " confessed that, induced thereto by 
" the Pope, he had rebelled against his sove- 
" reign,"* — that Gregory, of whom Dr. Doyle 
further tells us, on the authority of the chroni- 
cler Sigebert, that " when he found himself 
" near his end, he acknowledged that he had, 
" at the instigation of the Devil, stirred up enmi- 
" ties and strife amongst mankind, and sent to 
" the emperor to solicit his forgiveness,"! — that 
very Gregory, of whom the most charitable 
judgment which can be passed, is that he was 
a crack-brained fanatic, — was, in the eighteenth 
century, by Benedict XIII. placed among the 
Saints ! — a holy service was appointed to his 
honour, — all good Catholics were called upon 
to bend the knee in adoration to him, — and the 
worship of God himself was profaned by thank- 
ing him for giving this firebrand to the world, 
and by praying that his example might still edify 
and strengthen the Church. 

It is true, -this monstrous proceeding was 
reclaimed against by every government in com- 
munion with Rome; France, and even Spain, 

* Dr. Doyle's Essay, &c. p. 53. 

f Ibid. — Dr. Murray, in his Evidence before the Commons, 
p. 651, says the same. Baronius, it appears, denies what Sigi- 
bert affirms. 



IN ROME AND IRELAND ONLY. 



147 



expressed their indignation in the loudest terms, 
— the bull of canonization was every where on 
the continent, out of Italy, forbidden to be pub- 
lished, and the Breviaries for the use of other 
countries are not disgraced by the name and 
the worship of Hildebrand. But Rome was not 
left without one nation of faithful adherents, 
even in this wild experiment on the credulity 
of mankind. Ireland accepted the worship of the 
new Saint, and St. Gregory VII. still figures in 
her Calendar, and has a distinguished place in her 
Breviary. 

This is admitted by Dr. Murray in his evi- 
dence before the Commons; but he tells the 
Committee, (p. 651,) <£ that the Church docs 
"not canonize all the actions of even the Saints 
"themselves;" — "that Gregory VII. distin- 
" guished himself by the most indefatigable 
" zeal in reforming the Church, which was then 
<£ subject to great disorders, particularly with 
" regard to simony ; and in every other respect, 
" though he may have acted under mistaken 
" impressions regarding the particular point 
•* before alluded to," (that of the right of de- 
posing monarchs,) " he was considered a most 
" holy man, and as such is venerated by the 
" Church." 

I will not stop to ask Dr. Murray, what was 
l 2 



148 



SERVICE IN BREVIARY 



the general tenor of this pontiffs life; but I 
demand of him, what are the qualities, what 
the services to the Church, for which he was 
canonized, and which are commemorated in the 
Collect and Lessons of his holy day? Is it his 
hatred of simony, — his zeal for reformation? 
Dr. Murray knows the contrary; he knows that 
these particulars are very lightly touched, and 
that the main honours are given to qualities and 
to acts of a very different kind : and yet, as we 
have seen, he scruples not to insinuate to the 
Committee who examined him, that Hildebrand 
was sainted, only for those merits which, if they 
were his, all the world would join in applaud- 
ing. 

But it is right, that I should give some fuller 
account (at the hazard of being tedious) of the 
religious honour paid to St. Gregory VII. in 
the Breviary of Rome and Ireland: I do so, 
because in the Breviaries generally met with, 
published for the use of other countries, no no- 
tice whatever is taken of him. 

The prayer is as follows: — " O God, the 
" strength of all who hope in Thee, who didst 
" fortify with the virtue of constancy, for the de- 
" fence of the liberty of the Church, thy blessed 
" Confessor and Pontiff Gregory; grant to us, 
" that by his example and intercession, we may 



TO ST. GREGORY VII. 



149 



f< bravely overcome all that is opposed to us.— 
M Through the Lord." 

Such is the prayer. In the first of the proper 
Lessons appointed for the day we read as fol- 
lows: " it is said, that when he was a boy, and 
" yet ignorant of letters, being at play in a 
" carpenter's shop, he made out of scraps 
"of wood (God guiding his hand) the letters 
" which formed this oracle of David — s his do- 
" ' minion shall be from sea to sea,' — in order 
" that it might be signified that his authority in 
" the world would be most extensive." 

Another of the Lessons I will give entire: — 

" On the death of Alexander II. being unanimously elected 
rt to succeed him as Pope, though much against his will, he 
" shone forth like the sun in the House of the Lord : for power- 
" ful as he was both in action and in speech, he devoted him- 
" self so entirely to the restoration of Ecclesiastical Discipline, 
** to the re-establishment of Ecclesiastical Liberty, to the extir- 
" pating of errors and corruptions, that since the times of the 
" Apostles no Pontiff has been known to have incurred greater 
i( labours and troubles in the cause of the Church of God, or to 
" fight more manfully for its liberty. Some provinces he 
" cleansed from the stain of simony. Against the impious at- 
" tempts of the Emperor Henry he remained through every 
" fortune a bold and fearless champion. He was not afraid to 
" place himself before the wall of the house of Israel j and 
u this same Henry, who had fallen into the abyss of evil, he 
" deprived of the communion of the faithful, and of his kingdom, 
" and released the nations subject to his sway from the fidelity 
" which they had sworn to him." 

" Whilst he was performing mass a Dove was seen by pious 



150 THIRD CANON OF IV. LATERANE COUNCIL 

" witnesses to descend from Heaven, and perching on his right 
" shoulder, to cover his head with its outspread wings: by 
<f which it was signified, that in the government of the Church 
" he was guided by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, not by con- 
" siderations of human prudence" — u a man truly holy, the 
? avenger of crimes, and the most strenuous defender of the 
" Church: and having thus passed twelve years in the Pope- 
" dom, he departed into Heaven in the year of grace 1085, 
" illustrious both in his life and after his death for many 
" miracles/'* 

Such is the service recently appointed to be 
read in honour of St. Gregory VII. a Saint, 

who, rejected by every other portion of Papal Eu- 
rope, is acknowledged only in Rome and Ireland: 
and Dr. Murray, although in the habit of joining 
in this service, on the 25th of May of every 
year, affects to ascribe Gregory's canonization to 
" the extraordinary zeal which he testified in 
<£ reforming the corruptions of the Church!" 

The same prelate, in the same part of his 
examination, is pleased to throw a new light 
on another matter of some interest toprotestants, 
I mean, 

THE THIRD CANON OF THE FOURTH COUNCIL 
OF LATERANE, 

In which (it will be remembered) the duty of 
exterminating heretics is declared. 



* Breviar. Rom. Prati, 1721. Pars ^Estiv. p. 352. Pie 25 Mail 



PRONOUNCED SPURIOUS BY IRISH PRELATES. 151 

Dr. Murray tells the Committee of the House 
of Commons, (page 658) that " it is exceedingly 
" doubtful, whether or not that canon was ever 
" enacted in the Council of Laterane ; for no 
" ancient manuscript records it and, being 
subsequently asked, (page 661,) upon what 
authority he supposes the canon to be not 
authentic — " It is mentioned," he says, "by 

some historians, (and particularly Collier is 
" referred to,) as spurious, and as not having 
" been contained in any ancient manuscript:" 
but, on the Committee suggesting to him, that 
" Collier rather states that there is controverted 
4 ' authority upon the point," he admits that 
" he has not himself had an opportunity of con- 
" suiting Collier — that he speaks merely from 
" reference made to him." 

Dr. Doyle, in his sworn testimony before the 
Lords, has not been quite so diffident. He has 
said (page 310,) that " the Canon is not found in 
" the acts of the Council at all!" meaning, I 
really cannot presume to guess what : for it 
appears in every printed Edition of the- Coun- 
cil's Acts, and in none, as far as I know, is there 
the slightest intimation of any doubt of its being 
genuine. 

Dr. Doyle also tells the Lords, that " this 
" Canon is supposed by most historians to have 



152 



DR. DOYLE'S STATEMENT 



" been attached to the Council's Acts." Indeed! 
Will Dr. Doyle have the goodness to tell us 
who these historians are? it has been my own 
fortune in looking into historians for the purpose 
of ascertaining this fact, to find them all either 
citing the canon, or tacitly admitting its genuine- 
ness. Such is the case not only with Protestant 
Historians, but also with Dupin and Fleury. 

But Dr. Doyle ventures to name one of his au- 
thorities — "It is supposed," says he, "amongst 
" others, by the very excellent historian, Col- 
" Iyer." — My readers are by this time sufficiently 
acquainted with Dr. Doyle, to feel no surprize 
when they are informed, that this " very excel- 
" lent historian" supposes no such thing. But 
in preference to giving any remarks of my own 
on this point, I will beg leave to quote part of 
the evidence of the Archbishop of Dublin.* 
The Committee, giving credit apparently to Dr. 
Doyle's sworn statement, propose to the Arch- 
bishop the following question. Q. " Notwith- 
f standing the authorities which your grace has 
" quoted in defence of that third Canon, the 
" opinion and argument of Collier go to cast it 
" out of the Council of Laterane, to prove that 
" it never formed a part of the third Canon of 



* Lords, 45 7. 



CONFUTED BY AKCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. 153 



" that Council?"— A. " I do not think they do. 
" I think, as a plain historian, he is content 
" with relating a simple fact; he rather gives 
" his own opinion in favour of the Canon, when, 
" in selecting the Canons of the greatest influ- 
" ence, he selects three only; and this, as one 
" of those three. He says, ' the English Church 
" f being represented at this Council, I shall 
" ' lay two or three of its most remarkable 
" ' Canons before the reader;' and then he 
" adds, ' but here it must be said, that this 
" * Chapter or Canon is not to be found in the 
V ■ Mazarine copy coeval with the Council, but 
" ' is transcribed from a later record:' thus 
" asserting the fact simply, that it was not 
" found in the Mazarine record, but in a later 
" one."* 

So much for this abortive attempt to prove 

* But the Archbishop explains the fact respecting even the 
Mazarine copy, in a manner, which leaves no fair doubt of the 
Canon having been originally contained in it. " The Mazarine 
" copy is stated to be, in several parts of it, mutilated: the 
" leaf torn. Accordingly, as is visible on inspection, the first 
" Canon is wanting in the Mazarine copy; part of the second 
" only is had, and part of the third. Of the third, the begin- 
" ning and end are in the Mazarine copy; but the middle is 
" not, being as much as occupies a leaf in the codex. Therefore, 
" this particular act of the Council is not, in the ordinary sense 
" of the ziord, wanting in the Mazarine copy.'' 



154 



EDINBURGH REVIEW. 



before the Committee, that the third Canon of 
the great Laterane Council is not genuine. The 
only convert to this notion ever likely to be 
made is the exemplary critic, who " feels it 
" his duty to investigate each fact of the case, 
" and, above all, not to take doctrines of the 
" Catholics at second-hand" — in short, the Edin- 
burgh Reviewer, who says, " Catholics do not 
" hold themselves obliged to believe in the 
" deposing doctrine upon anything declared in 
" this Canon, because it is generally considered 
" to be spurious."— (No. LXXXV. p. 141.) 

And now let me trespass on my reader's 
patience, while I briefly recapitulate what these 
several personages have said on this subject. 
Delahogue had first intimated in a note to his 
Tract, de Ecclesia, page 263, (the Class-book, as 
I have before said, at Maynooth) that " some 
" Critics doubt of the authenticity of this Canon: 
" see Collyer, a Protestant writer, Dupin, and 
" Turnelius de Eccl." Dr. Murray, eagerly 
avails himself of this doubt, and produces it 
before the House of Commons; when lo! what 
was simply a doubt with Delahogue, grows to 
be ?' exceedingly doubtful" in the hands of Dr. 
Murray; " by some historians" he adds, " par- 
" ticularly Collyer, it is mentioned as spurious." — 
Dr. Doyle goes further. He says, that ** by 



DR. DOYLE. 



155 



" most historians " (Collyer is the only one 
whom he too names, and we have seen what 
Collyer's statement amounts to,) " by most his- 
" torians this Canon is supposed to have been 
" attached to the CounciVs Acts" — Last of all 
comes the northern Reviewer, and he boldly 
declares, that " the Canon is generally considered 
to be spurious." — Really it would not be easy to 
find another specimen, half so complete, " of 
" the progress of — " what I have too much re- 
spect for my readers and myself to call by its 
right name. 

But I have not yet done with Dr. Doyle on 
this subject. Not satisfied with the result of 
his endeavours to discredit the Canon before 
Parliament, he has devoted two sections of his 
recent " Essay" to the same laudable pursuit. 
He even enters into " a critical examination" 
of it, and in order to bear down all opposition, 
announces that " he shall consult only such 
" authorities as ought not to be passed by; and 
" that the general tenor of his observations will 
6 ' be almost copied from a few of some fifty books 
" now lying before him, which, among other 
" things, treat of this Council." This is an 
awful declaration, and makes it a matter of 
fearful odds against any one, who, like myself, 
ventures into the field without a fifth part of the 



156 



DR. DOYLe's MISTATEMENT 



same artillery. I have, however, one ally which 
is itself a host, a resolution to follow truth 
wherever she may lead me. 

He begins with saying, that ' ' this decree 
" appears in the Acts of the Council itself as 
" published at Lyons, by Caranzan, in 1683, as 
" well as (he believes) in all others of a modem 
" date." 

It also appears, he tells us, in (C an Edition 
" of the Councils published by Crabbe, the 
" Franciscan, in 1558," which Edition was, he 
says, Crabbe's second: and yet Crabbe published 
an Edition in 1538, in which the third Canon 
appears with the rest; and another in 1551, in 
which also it appears. But then, Dr. Doyle 
tells us, in an Edition (which he calls Crabbe's 
first Edition) " published in 1530, by James 
" Merlin, the Canon does not appear." Very 
true ; neither does it, I believe, appear in Dr. 
Doyle's Pastoral Address of 1822: in which, 
however, it would be equally reasonable to look 
for it. For James Merlin's Edition of 1 530, 
does not profess to be an Edition of all the 
Councils, but only of a very few, and the fourth 
Council of Laterane is not in the number. I 
say this, on the supposition that the publica- 
tion of J. Merlin's, intended by Dr. Doyle, is 
that which is entitled Conciliorum quatuor Ge- 



RESPECTING THE CANON OF LATERANE. 157 

neralium, Tom. I. Alioruni aliquot Conciliorum 
Generaliiwn, Tom. II. Col. 1530. 

It is possible, to be sure, (but till Dr. Doyle 
produces better proof, I shall not believe it,) that 
Merlin may have published in the same year ano- 
ther edition by Crabbe, of the Councils in Gene- 
ral. But if he did, there is no mention of it in the 
edition of 1538, which nevertheless speaks of 
a Collection of the Councils in a single vo- 
lume, published twice at Paris, and once at 
Cologne. But let us suppose that one of these 
was the edition meant by Dr. Doyle, and then 
see whether the result will be more to that 
Prelate's honour. At the end of the second 
volume of 1538, is an address to the reader by 
Orthuinus Gratius, stating, that the former col- 
lection was very carelessly edited, that almost 
all things in it were corrupted, and no method 
or order observed ; but " in this Collection," 
he proceeds, " every thing is complete, and 
" drawn from the most ancient, received, and, 
" what is especially worthy of note, approved 
" copies. Read, therefore, again and again, 
" these volumes, in which you will find many 
" councils of the ancients, which to this day the 
" greatest and most learned men have been 
" unable to procure." Accordingly an index 
is given, at the beginning of the first volume, 



158 dr. doyle's misstatement 



of the additions made in this collection to the 
Councils before published, and among them is 
the following : — " The Decrees of the Laterane 
" Council." Then follows a list of places and 
persons, who have contributed the oldest copies 
of Councils, concluding thus — 66 Lastly, the 
" commendation of myself and of all good men 
" is due to John Cochlseus, that indefatigable 
" defender of the Catholic Church, who sent 
" from Misna to me at Cologne, among many 
" others, the Council of Laterane, the want of 
" which was a subject of regret to men of the 
" greatest learning and virtue." 

Thus it was, that in Crabbe's edition of 1538 
the disputed Canon appears for the first time. 
And why ? not because this Canon alone was a 
recent discovery made in the year 1537 by 
John Cochlseus, as Dr. Doyle tells us ; but 
because the Acts of the Council of Lateran, 
at large, were then for the first time disco- 
vered , 

And now what becomes of Dr. Doyle's subtle 
attempt to make it be believed, that the first 
publication of this particular Canon was subse- 
quent to that of the others ? 

But he has another string to his bow : he 
next ventures to assail all the Canons of the 
Council alike. " The truth is," says he, "that 



RESPECTING THE CANON OF LATERANE. 159 

" the Acts of this Council, or at least a great 
" portion of them, were ascribed rather to Pope 
<f Innocent than to the Council itself. Platina 
" ascribes them to him ; so does Rigordus : 
" his Nephew, Gregory IX. does so, whilst he 
" inserts them in his Book of the Decretals." 

So then, all the while that Dr. Doyle has 
been labouring to make us believe, that this 
Ca^on was the production of a later age, and 
while he was eager for that purpose to avail 
himself, to the utmost, of the loss of a leaf in the 
Mazarine copy, he knew perfectly well, that 
the Canon was in existence within twenty 
years* of the sitting of the Council ! For in 
the Decretals of Gregory IX. it appears in the 
very same words in which it now stands in all 
the printed editions of the Councils. Not only 
so; but it is inserted there (Tit. vii. c. 13.) with 
this important accompaniment, which Dr. Doyle 
however forgets to give us — " Innocent III. in 
Concilio Generali." 

But Matthew Paris is cited by him to shew, 
that the Decrees of the Council were not regu- 
larly passed. " After the Council was opened in 
" the usual forms, and a discourse delivered by 

* The Council was held in 1215 ; and the Decretals were 
set forth in 1234. 



560 



DR. DOYLE. 



" the Pope, sixty Chapters or Canons were 
" read in full sitting, but which seemed to 
" many (onerosa) not acceptable, and then they 
" proceeded to what related to the Holy 
" Land." Dr. Doyle has here again judged it 
expedient to omit part of his author's words, 
which are at least as important, as those which 
he retains, aliis placabilia, aliis videbantur onerosa 
— and which are thus applied by Dupin — " it is 
" certain that these Canons were not made by the 
" Council, but by Innocent III. who presented 
u them to the Council ready drawn up, and 
" ordered them to be read, and that the Pre- 
" lates did not enter into debate upon them, 
" but that their silence was taken for approba- 
" tion." Accordingly, Dupin himself gives the 
Canons (and of course the third among the 
rest) without hesitation, or further remark, as 
the Canons of the Council : and yet Dupin, 
next to Collyer, is the principal witness relied 
on by Delahogue (the original propounder of 
the doubt) against the genuineness of this third 
Canon. 

But, after all, is Dr. Doyle sincere in this his 
new attempt? Does he recollect that if his 
argument is good for anything, it goes (as I 
have said) to destroy the authority of all the 
Canons of this Council alike ? and then what be- 



BLUNDER OF DR. MURRAY. 161 

comes of the authority of the Council of Trent 
itself, which actually cites by name a Canon of 
this " Great Council," (respecting confession) 
in one of its own most solemn Decrees of 
Faith?* Really, I begin to tremble for this 
great Divine's own orthodoxy. 

Must this Canon of Lateran detain us any 
longer ? I am sorry to say it must : for Drs. 
Murray and Doyle, like prudent generals, have 
a main part of their force in reserve. They 
say, that even if this Canon is genuine, it is no 
part of the general doctrine or discipline of the 
Church : that " this law was enacted to repress 
" the errors of the Albigenses, f which threat- 
" ened the existence of society itself." 

This is the most surprizing discovery of all. 
These people, against whom this Canon was 
directed, are not once named in the Canon 
itself, nor in any of the Council's acts. To be 
sure, there was a Laterane Council held forty 
years before (1179), under Alexander III. 
against these very Albigenses, and a Decree^ 
of that Council sufficiently accords with Dr. 
Murray's description of the acts of this fourth 
Laterane. But is it possible that the former 

* Sess. xiv. c. 8. 

f See Commons, p. 659, and Dr. Doyle's "Essays," p. 93. 
+ Can. 27. Concil. Labbe. Venet. 1734. t.xiii. p. 430. 

M 



162 



BLUNDER OF DR. MURRAY. 



Principal of Maynooth College, and the present 
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, could be 
guilty of so gross a blunder, (I will not call it 
by a harsher name,) as confounding the two ? 
Let us, however, suppose, that though the Al- 
bigenses are not named by the Council, they 
were (as is highly probable) intended. Did 
they alone fall within the Canon in question? 
Most certainly not. The Canon sets out with 
saying — "we excommunicate and anathematize 
" every heresy erecting itself against this ortho- 
" dox faith, ivhich we have above laid doivn, con- 
" demning all heretics (universos hcereticos) by 
" whatever names they are known." 

Now, then, in order to see who are affected 
by this sweeping anathema, we must look to 
that exposition of orthodox faith to which we 
are referred, and which is given in the first 
Canon " de fide Catholica." And here I have 
to announce to my Protestant readers, that 
we are all most unquestionably included : for 
among other articles of faith is that which 
first authoritatively pronounced the belief of 
transubstantiation to be necessary to salvation. 
We are all, therefore, liable to the censures 
and punishments pronounced in the third 
Canon ! And so I have done with it, I hope, 
for ever, 



COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE AND HUS. 163 

Our next subject must be 

THE PROCEEDING OF THE COUNCIL OF CON- 
STANCE AGAINST JOHN HUS. 

It has been not unusual to regard this case 
as one which proves that the Church of Rome 
has maintained the tenet, that " faith is not to 
" be kept with heretics." I do not myself 
think that this conclusion is fairly deducible 
from it, and I have expressed myself accordingly 
in my Letters to you, page 294. The legitimate 
deduction is rather, if I mistake not, the supe- 
riority of the ecclesiastical over the temporal 
power. One or other of these principles, how- 
ever, cannot but result from it. 

But let us look to the evidence : 

Dr. Murray* defends this proceeding at 
Constance by saying, in the first place, that 
" the safe-conduct given by the Emperor to 
" Hus proves, on being examined, to be nothing 
" more than a mere travelling passport, such as is 
" now given so commonly upon the continent, 
" to protect the individual possessing it from 
" interruption on the way;" and, secondly, that 
" the Emperor's safe-conduct could not protect, 
" and could not have been intended to protect, 



* Commons, p. 659. 
M 2 



164 



SAFE-CONDUCT OF SIGISMUND. 



" him from the operation of the laws of a free 
" city, over which the Emperor could not be sup- 
" posed to have controul" 

I will examine both these particulars, and I 
hope to bring my observations upon them within 
a moderate compass. 

And, first, of the safe-conduct, the " mere 
" passport," as Dr. Murray calls it. It is ad- 
dressed by Sigismund " to all ecclesiastical and 
" secular princes, &c. &c. to all the governors 
u and officers of cities, &c. and to the rest, our 
" and the Holy Empire's subjects and lieges — 
" We recommend in full affection to all and every 
" of you, the honourable Master John Hus, S. T. 
" B. the bearer of these presents, passing from 
" the kingdom of Bohemia to the Council of Con- 
" stance now about to be holden, whom also we 
" have received into the protection and safeguard of 
** us and the Holy Empire : desiring that when 
" he shall come to you, you, both out of free 
" will and duty, receive him graciously, treat 
" him with favour, and in things which relate to 
C( the speed and security of his journey shew a 
" readiness to forward him ; also that you 
" permit himself, with his servants, horses, and 
" all other things belonging to him, through all 
" your passes, ports, bridges, lands, domains, 
" jurisdictions, cities, &c. without any payment of 



DR. DOYLE MIS-STATES THE COUNCIL'S DECREE. 165 

" tribute, toll, or any other burthen whatsoever, 
" and, every impediment whatsoever removed, 
" to pass, stop, sojourn, and return freely; and that 
" you of free will and of duty provide for the saj'e- 
" conduct of him and his, when there shall be 
" need, in honor and reverence of our Majesty. 
" Given at Spire, A. D. 1414, Oct. 18." 

Such was the safe-conduct ; and I request my 
readers to compare it with Dr. Murray's state- 
ment, that it was " a mere travelling passport, 
" such as is now so commonly given on the 
" continent." I certainly shall not labour this 
point further. 

But the main defence of the Council and the 
Emperor is rested, both by Dr. Murray, in his 
evidence, and Dr. Doyle, in his 44 Essay," page 
131, on the entire independence of the city of 
Constance, where the Council was holden, and 
where Hus was burnt. Dr. Doyle, indeed, has 
the hardihood to say, that the Council in its 
" Decree declared that there was no violation 
" of faith in this case, by whatever tie the Em- 
" peror, in giving the safe-conduct, might bind 
" himself ; whereas he had no power to preju- 
" dice the rights of the Council in giving 
" judgment in a matter of doctrine, nor those of 
<f the magistrates of Constance, a free and inde- 



166 



CONSTANCE A CITY 



"pendent city, in the execution of their own 
" sanguinary laws'' 

I call on Dr. Doyle to produce this decree. 
If he cannot, what must be the merits of that 
cause, which needs the assistance of such an 
artifice ? What the principles of that advocate 
who can dare to use it ? He has not here the 
palliation which might, in other instances, be 
suggested, that he was taken unawares, called 
on to answer questions on the instant, without 
time for due reflection. He has taken months 
to meditate his statement, and now voluntarily 
comes forth to publish it. 

But that statement is most unfounded. Not 
only does the Council's decree not confirm it, 
it does not say a single syllable which concerns 
the magistrates of this free city ; the tribunal 
of which it speaks, and of which it declares 
that the safe-conduct of Sigismund could not 
interfere with its jurisdiction, is " a competent 
** and ecclesiastical" tribunal. Nay, there is 
certain proof that the city of Constance was 
not in such a sense " free," as to exclude the 
paramount authority of the Emperor. 

Nauclerus, in his Chronicle, ad ann. 14 13, 
(a writer cited by Dr. Doyle himself, "Essay," 
page 122, as one of more than common weight,) 



SUBJECT TO THE EMPEROR. 



167 



tells us, that the circumstance of <e the Legate's 
" having fixed on Constance as the place for the 
" Council gave great delight to the Emperor, 
" because it was a city subject to him. But when 
" the Pope, John XXIII. understood this, it is 
" incredible how deeply he grieved, cursing 
" himself and his fortune." And Nauclerus 
himself ascribes so much importance to this 
particular that he adds, " But the will of God no 
" man can resist ; and God had already decreed 
" that there should be one fold and one shep- 
" herd ;" alluding to the deposition of John 
which should take place at Constance. 

Nor is this all. In the documents published 
with the acts of the Council by Labbe, there is 
abundant proof of the Emperor's power and 
authority at Constance. He himself says, in 
the edict by which he invites all whom it 
concerns to the Council, that " Constance has 
" been named by himself as a fit place, safe, 
" and common to all nations who may attend, 
" and in which we shall be able, according to our 
" imperial office, to protect all and every one in 
« full liberty."* 

There is moreover the form of an oath which 
Sigismund, " in virtue of his royal Majesty, 

* Labbe, Con.Venet. 1731. vol. xvi. p. 793. 



168 SERMON BEFORE THE COUNCIL 

" commands the Syndics, &c. of Constance to 
" take ;" an oath which the Pope had required 
for the safety of himself and his suite. The 
syndics having taken the oath, Sigismund's 
commissary gives his sanction and authority 
to the same.* 

But, be the rights and liberties of the city of 
Constance what they may, Sigismund was the 
secular power on whom the Council devolved 
the duty of inflicting its execrable vengeance 
upon Hus ; this is rendered indisputable by the 
sermon preached before the Council on that oc- 
casion, by James, Bishop of Lodi, " Master of the 
" Sacred Palace." In it we read the following 
address to Sigismund ; " On all these accounts, 
" to thee, O most Christian King, the glorious 
" triumph hath been reserved, a triumph to be 
" celebrated in all times to come, of repairing 
11 the lacerated Church, removing so inveterate 
" a schism, and outrooting the heretics." " To 
" complete this, so holy and so pious a work, 
"thou hast been chosen by God ; especially 
" that the heresies and errors which we have 
■ ' even now condemned, should be destroyed by 
" thy imperial sword. Destroy then all heresies 
" and errors; and above all, this obstinate 



* Labbe, Con. Venet. 1731. vol. xvi. p. 798. 



ON THE CONDEMNATION OF HUS. 169 

" heretic, (Hus,) through whose malignity many 
" are the places which have been infected by 
" the contagion of heresy. This sacred labour 
" is left to thee, O glorious Prince ; to thee, 
" above all, it belongs, to whom is given the 
" supreme power of justice (justitia? primatus) ; 
" wherefore, from the mouths of babes and 
" sucklings, thy praises are sounded forth per- 
" petually, that thou mayst destroy the ene- 
" mies of the Church. And may Christ Jesus, 
" who is blessed evermore, vouchsafe to grant 
" that this may redound to thy happiness and 
" prosperity. Amen."* 

Accordingly, when the process against Hus 
was ended, when he was declared a heretic, 
and the Council pronounced its decree, that 
" the Church of God having nothing more which 
" it could do, he was now to be left to the 
" secular power," Sigismund, as this secular 
power, gave his order to Louis, Elector Palatine 
of Bavaria, Grand Vicar of the Empire, to 
receive him in charge. Louis received and 
immediately gave him over to the officers. But 
while he was at the stake, and before the fire 
was yet kindled, Louis and the Count of Papen- 
heim rode up to him, and urged him to recant 
and save his life.f So clearly was his death 

* Ibid. p. 1326. f Hussit. His. I ii. p. 111. 



170 SUPERIORITY OF ECCLESIASTICAL 

the act of Sigismund, and so little ground is 
there for the shallow pretence of Delahogue 
and his Irish adherents, that, " the laws of the 
" free city of Constance, laws which the safe- 
" conduct of Sigismund could not controul, 
were the real authority under which he suf- 
" fered." 

The truth is, as I have intimated before, that 
the main principle on which the Council acted, 
was the superiority of the ecclesiastical to the 
temporal power. This principle is recognized 
as of course by the old historians of the Church 
of Rome. In particular, Dr. Doyle's own 
authority, Nauclerus, tells us that Sigismund 
himself had scruples, and how they were over- 
come. (i The burning of Hus and Jerome," 
says he, " the Emperor took much to heart, on 
" account of the safe-conduct granted to them. 
" But the Council answered him, that he could 
" not be charged with breach of faith, because 
ff the Council itself, which is greater than the 
" Emperor, not having granted a safe-conduct, 
" he had not the power to grant it against the 
i( will of the Council ; a determination in which, 
" as a good son of the Church, Sigismund 
" acquiesced."* The same principle had been 



* Nauclerus, vol. iii. p. 442. 



TO TEMPORAL POWER. 



171 



inculcated in a sermon by the Cardinal of 
Cambray, who, choosing for his text " there 
" shall be signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, 
*' and in the Stars," made the Pope to be " the 
" Sun presiding over the day, that is, spiritual 
" things, the Emperor to be the Moon, presiding 
" over night, that is, temporal things."* Nay, 
so fully was Sigismund himself imbued with this 
notion, that in a letter addressed by him to 
Charles VI. of France, inviting him to send 
his ambassadors to the Council, this traitor to 
his own imperial crown adopts the same 
image : " God," says he, " has placed two 
" luminaries over the earth, a greater and 
" a less, by which the authority of the Pope 
" and the powers of kings are designated, the 
" one ruling in spirituals, the other in cor- 
" poreals."t 

So much for the proceeding of the Council 
of Constance against Hus. But Dr. Doyle is 
not content to defend the Council, without 
libelling its illustrious victim : " There was," 
he says, " scarcely any thing impious which the 
" unhappy Hus did not maintain." Impious ! 
I challenge this bold defamer to produce from 
the writings of Hus, not from the fictions of 

* L'Enfant, Hist, du Concile de Constance, t. i. p. 77. 
t Labb. Con. ubi supra, p. 795. 



172 



HUS DEFENDED AGAINST 



his accusers, a single tenet in which the faintest 
taint of impiety can be discerned. If he refuses, 
let the shame of convicted calumny, — I will not 
measure and weigh my words in repelling a 
charge, as false as it is foul, from the memory 
of that holy martyr, — let the shame, I say, of 
convicted calumny teach Dr. Doyle in future to 
be discrete, at least, if he will not be honest. 
The tenets of John Hus " impious !" so then are 
the tenets of every true son of the Church of 
England ! for, with the exception of some 
erroneous, but assuredly not impious, notions, 
the doctrines which he held in opposition to 
Rome, we too maintain or tolerate. In truth, the 
name of Hus is one which to English Protestants 
must ever be most dear. It was from England, 
from our own countryman WiclifF, that he first 
caught the flame of pure religion ; and well and 
largely did he repay the debt, by keeping that 
holy light still burning, and transmitting it purer 
and brighter to the Fathers of our own Reforma- 
tion. Above all, by his blessed example at the 
stake, he taught a lesson which even Ridley and 
Cranmer might be proud to learn. For never, to 
human observation, was the crown of martyr- 
dom more gloriously won, never by mortal man 
was the conflict with all the powers of earth 
and hell sustained with more undaunted con- 



DR. DOYLE'S CHARGE OF IMPIETY. 173 



stancy, more genuine Christian meekness,humi- 
lity, and charity.* Yet against this man, after 
more than four hundred years have passed since 
he paid the last dreadful price of his resistance 
to the tyranny of Rome, the intolerance of that 
Church is still, it seems, fresh and active ; it 
can calumniate, though it may no longer per- 
secute ; it can direct the envenomed pens of 
such writers as Dr. Doyle, though the pile can 
be no longer reared, and the Halls of Justice 
spurn from them the bloody code, which bigotry 
would have made perpetual. 

From the cruel and treacherous murder of 
Hus, the transition is easy to our next subject, 

THE DOCTRINE OF EXCLUSIVE SALVATION IN 
THE CHURCH OF ROME. 

Of all the distinguishing characteristics of 
that Church, this it is which most justly renders 
its members the objects of jealousy and suspi- 

* In his address to the Council he spoke once and calmly of 
the safe-conduct of Sigismund, which had tempted him to Con- 
stance, and a blush was raised on the cheek of his despicable 
betrayer, a blush which, recorded in history, was cited even by 
Charles V. when solicited to practise a similar treachery towards 
the Reformers of his day. Hus, when his sentence had been 
pronounced, prayed for the pardon of his enemies, who laughed 
at him for this act of chavitv. 



174 DOCTRINE OF EXCLUSIVE SALVATION 

cion to a nation of Protestants. Even the claims 
of their spiritual head to a right of interference, 
whether direct or indirect, in the temporal 
concerns of states, (if they were universally 
acknowledged,) would be of far less practical 
moment, than the doctrine which excludes 
from salvation all those who dare to separate 
themselves from the Roman Church. For 
those claims must, of necessity, be limited in 
their efficacy by so many considerations of ex- 
pedience, they would be always so much 
counteracted by the spirit of national independ- 
ence, which animates every people once ad- 
mitted to the enjoyment, or even the knowledge, 
of freedom, that in any advanced state of civil 
society, little comparative danger can be 
apprehended even from the open assertion of 
them. In truth, in the common passions and 
feelings of men, in their pride, and in their 
selfishness, the Church would here find active 
and powerful opponents ; but in those very 
passions and feelings, when it tells its children 
that they only are within the pale of Christ's 
flock, that they only, therefore, are entitled to 
the salvation which Christ came from Heaven 
to purchase with his blood, the Church will 
always have its surest support and most faithful 
allies. I repeat, therefore, whenever the 



IN THE CHURCH OF ROME. 



175 



number of the followers of that Church is in 
any degree considerable, much more when, in 
a great integral member of an- empire, they 
form, as in Ireland, a majority of the population, 
it must remain a question of serious and awful 
deliberation, whether they can be safely trusted 
with any large share of political power. 

The importance of this consideration is so 
strongly felt by the more artful of your brethren, 
that in no subject are they more anxious to 
silence, if not to satisfy, the objections of their 
adversaries. Unluckily, however, for them, 
there is here no room for the exercise of their 
usual policy; the obnoxious tenet can neither be 
dissembled nor materially softened. It stands 
in the very front of their whole system ; nay, 
it makes a part of every other dogma ; for all 
are commended to the acceptance of the faithful, 
under the awful sanction of an anathema if they 
be rejected. 

With these difficulties, nothing else has re- 
mained but boldly to admit the charge, and to 
recriminate on the accuser. Accordingly Dr. 
Doyle has not scrupled to pursue this course, 
under the sanction of an oath before the Com- 
mittee of the House of Lords. 

Q. " Do you know that the doctrine of ex- 



176 RECRIMINATION ON CHURCH OF ENGLAND 



** elusive salvation in the Church of Rome is 
" preached in Ireland by your parochial clergy 
" to their flocks ?" A. " I think it is preached 
" by the parochial clergy of every church in 
" Ireland, as well as ours; so that in that I do 
(< not suppose there is any difference between one 
" Church and another. The doctrine of exclu- 
ef sive salvation is found as expressly stated in 
" the 13th Article of the Established Church, I 
" think, as in any of our creeds : besides, that 
" profession of faith adopts the Athanasian 
" Creed, which also establishes exclusive sal- 
w vation ; so that I do not know of any church, 
" the ministers of which do not preach exclu- 
" sive salvation in one sense or another ; for it 
" is, in my opinion, a doctrine common to every 
" sect of Christianity." 

Of the accuracy of this statement, as far as 
relates to our eighteenth Article, my readers 
will be able to form a better judgment, after 
reading the Article itself. Its title is as follows, 
and I beg their attention to it: 

" XVIII. Of Obtaining Salvation only by the name of Christ. 

" They also are to be had accursed, that pre- 
" sume to say, that every man shall be saved 
" by the law or sect which he professeth, so 



EIGHTEENTH ARTICLE VINDICATED. 177 

" that he be diligent to frame his life according 
" to that law, and the light of nature. For 
" Holy Scripture doth set out to us only the 
" name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be 
" saved." In other words, those are to be ac- 
cursed who presume to say, that the great work 
of redemption by Christ was not necessary for 
the salvation of man; but that men of any re- 
ligious persuasion, if they live according to 
the law or sect which they profess, and to mere 
natural light, shall be saved thereby: whereas, 
Holy Scripture tells us, " that all who shall 
be saved, of whatever sect or persuasion they 
may be, will be saved only by the name of 
Jesus Christ — only by reason of Him and His 
merits." That this is, in one sense, a doctrine 
of exclusive salvation, I am quite ready to ad- 
mit: but let us see of what it is exclusive — it 
is not of the subjects of salvation, for it abso- 
lutely excludes none, — but only of means, or 
authors, of salvation. In short, it does no more 
nor less, than exclude all other Saviours than our 
Lord Jesus Christ. Here then the whole pa- 
rallel between the churches of Rome and Eng- 
land, in respect to the dogma of exclusive sal- 
vation, as far as our Article is concerned, falls 
absolutely to nothing.* 

* In another work of his (Defence by I. K. L. p. 71) Dr. 

N 



178 



ATM ANA SI AN" CREED. 



Of the Athanasian Creed, so far as the adop- 
tion of it exposes our Church to the reproach 
of being uncharitable, I do not think it neces- 
sary to repeat here what I have already said in 
my Letter to Earl Grey (p. 368). But in an- 
swer to the allegation of it by Dr. Doyle, I 
must remark, that it would, indeed, be a good 
argumentum ad homines if we condemned the 
Roman Catholic Church simply for holding, 
that the belief of some articles of faith is neces- 
sary to salvation. But this, Dr. Doyle knows 
perfectly well, is not the case; he knows, that 
humbly acknowledging our Lord's own words, 
" He that believeth not shall be damned," we 
do also acknowledge and profess, that there are 
some truths made known in the Gospel, which 
must be believed by all who hope to share 
in the salvation of the Gospel. The Divinity 
of God the Son, and of God the Holy Ghost, 
the distinction of each from the other and from 
the Almighty Father, and at the same time the 

Doyle has improved his chance of convicting us of symbolizing 
with his Church in this particular, by a very ingenious expe- 
dient. He has amended our Article by substituting in for by, 
and thus makes it hold them accursed, who presume to say that 
every man shall be saved in the law or sect which he professeth, 
so that he live according to it, — a proposition which our church 
has not either denied or affirmed, leaving its members to their 
full liberty in this particular. 



ARTICLES FUNDAMENTAL, &C. 179 

Unity of their Godhead, — the Incarnation of 
God the Son in the man Christ Jesus, — the 
Atonement made by Him for the Sins of the 
World,— the Resurrection of the body, — the 
future judgment, — and everlasting life; these 
are the points of faith pronounced by the 
Church of England, in the Athanasian Creed, to 
be necessary to be believed; and of none others 
does that Church anywhere make such declara- 
tion. In short, we think that there is a distinc- 
tion between articles fundamental and not fun- 
damental, and we pronounce no judgment of 
those who hold, or hold not, the latter. 

This would be our answer, if the point in 
question were, whether we are justly charge- 
able with want of charity towards those who 
differ from us. But this is really a matter quite 
foreign from the present inquiry. The point to 
be settled is, not whether we are uncharitable, 
nor, indeed, whether Roman Catholics are; — • 
but rather, laying, for the present, all consider- 
ation of their charity aside, whether they hold 
any opinions respecting the spiritual state, the 
religious hope, of Protestants of the Church of 
England, which disqualifies them from being 
entrusted with the power of legislating for that 
church, and for the constitution of which it is 
an integral part. It is, therefore, perfectly idle, 
n 2 



180 THE CHURCH OF ROME CLAIMS 

to tell us, as we are sometimes told by men of 
high authority, that if they think us heretics, 
and on that account out of the way of salvation, 
we think them idolaters, and therefore in the 
way of damnation. For, in the first place, we 
do not think them idolaters formally, though 
we do think they commit an act which is idola- 
trous materially ; and for material idolatry (as 
contradistinguished from formal) no member of 
the Church of England would pronounce so 
harshly of any professing Christian. But, se- 
condly, even if we did hold that opinion in its 
fullest extent, it would only show that we 
should be unfit to be admitted to any effective 
share in the government of a country where 
the Roman Catholic religion is the established 
religion, and, as such, most intimately united 
to the state. This, however, I repeat, is not 
the question : we are not seeking to ascertain 
whether we Protestants are fit to be entrusted 
with the government of a Roman Catholic 
state ; but whether Roman Catholics are fit to 
bear part in this Protestant government : and in 
order to settle this point, it is only necessary to 
see what they think of us and our religion. 

I hardly need to remind any one, that the 
Church of Rome being the mother and mistress 
of all churches, they, who are not in commu- 



JURISDICTION OVER PROTESTANTS. 181 



nion with her, are regarded not as aliens merely, 
but as rebels* and renegades ; that herein she 
differs from all other churches, who look on 
those who are excluded from their communion, 
as sinners it may be, but as left to the judg- 
ment of God, with which judgment man has no 
right to interfere. To their own master they 
stand or fall. But the Church of Rome claims 
a right of jurisdiction even over those who have 
left her bosom, or have been excluded from it: 
according to her own most formal instructions 
given for the guidance of her own clergy, M it 
" is not to be denied that they are still in the 
" power of the Church, to be called to judg- 
" ment by her, to be punished, and condemned 
" with an anathema. "t 

We are told, indeed, that, as becomes a ten- 
der mother, and a most merciful mistress, she 
mourns over the wretchedness of these unduti- 
ful children and subjects, whom she is forced to 
punish. Nay, we are assured, on the oath of 
Dr. Murray,^ that even when recourse is had 
to the severest censures, " when a decayed mem- 
" ber is cut off from the body, it is with a view 
" to his amendment." In order to prove how 

* Delahogue de Eccles. p. 246. 
f Cat. ad Par. pars I. c. 13. 

* Lords, p. 267. 



182 



FORM OF ANATHEMA. 



diligently and how tenderly this amendment is 
sought, I will beg leave to present my readers 
with a copy of the conclusion of an " anathema," 
as it is given in the Pontificale: " Whereas N., 
" at the instigation of the Devil," and so forth, 
" therefore by the judgment of God the Father 
" Almighty, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and of 
" St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all 
" the Saints: moreover, by authority of our 
" mediocrity, and by the power of binding and 
" loosing in Heaven and in Earth conferred by 
" God upon us, we separate him from the recep- 
" tion of the precious body and blood of the 
" Lord, and from the society of all Christians, 
" and exclude him from the thresholds of holy 
" mother Church in Heaven and in Earth, and 
" we decree him to be excommunicated and 
" anathematized, and adjudge him to he damned 
" with the Devil and his angels, and all reprobates, 
" to eternal fire ; until he recover from the snares 
" of the Devil, and return to amendment, and 
" repentance, and satisfy the Church which he 
" has injured; delivering him to Satan for the 
" destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may 
" be saved in the day of judgment." This is 
among the punishments which the Church of 
Rome claims the right of inflicting on those bap- 
tized Christians, who are not of her communion : 



HERETICS ARE POSSESSED BY THE DEVIL. 183 

and, in further illustration of her sentiments on 
this important subject, I will subjoin an extract 
from her " order for reconciling an apostate, 
" schismatic, or heretic," which shews most 
plainly and avowedly the view she takes of the 
condition of us, and of all who presume to dif- 
fer from her — that we are under the immediate 
influence of the devil. After the party has 
professed his belief in each article of the Apos- 
tles creed, kneeling on his knees, the Pontiff, 
wearing his mitre, rises from his seat, and says 
over him, still kneeling, what follows — " I ex- 
" orcise thee, O unclean spirit, by God the Fa- 
" ther Almighty, and by Jesus Christ his Son, 
" and by the Holy Ghost, that thou depart 
" from this servant of God, whom God and our 
" Lord vouchsafes to rescue from thy errors and 
" deceits, and to recall to the Holy Mother, the 
<( Catholic and Apostolic Church." 

Such then is the light in which schismatics 
and heretics are regarded by this most merciful 
and charitable Church. But that all members of 
the Church of England and Ireland are account- 
ed by her both as schismatics and heretics, I 
need not add : it follows, therefore, with all the 
strictness of a syllogism, that, by belonging to 
this our Church, we are, in the opinion of the 
Church of Rome, not only cut off from all com- 
munion with the true Church of Christ, but 



184 



bossuet's definition 



are also cast off by God, and abandoned to the 
guidance of the devil in this world, and to a 
fellowship in his punishment in the world to 
come ! Yet they who thus think of our Church, 
claim (that is the word, be it remembered) 
claim, as a civil right, to legislate for her. — 
Whatever may be thought of the charity of 
these religionists, it is at least equal to their 
modesty. 

After this, it cannot be necessary to dwell 
on the notorious fact, that the Church of Rome 
requires it to be believed, as an article of faith, 
that salvation cannot be had by any who are 
without its pale. It is more important to 
remark, that all are without its pale who pre- 
sume to exercise the reason with which God 
has gifted them, and for the due use of which, 
as of every other talent entrusted to us by the 
same Almighty Being, if there be truth in 
his revealed word, we shall hereafter be called 
into judgment. All, I say, are ipso facto with- 
out - the pale of the Church of Rome, if they 
knowingly exercise their reason in opposition 
to her decree on the smallest point that can 
be named. 

In a tract of Bossuet's, entitled " Catholicity 
<f and Christianity inseparable," recently pub- 
lished in this country in the same volume with 
his "Exposition of Doctrine," we read the fol- 



OF CATHOLIC AND HERETIC. 185 



lowing explanation of the terms Catholic and 
Heretic. " The Heretic is he who has an opinion, 
" for such is the meaning of that word. But 
" what are we to understand by having an opi- 
" nion ? It is the following of our own fancy 
" and particular sentiment. But the Catholic is 

*< Catholic ; that is universal, who, without 

" maintaining any particular sentiment, hesitates 
" not to follow the doctrine of the Church." — p. 
171. Hence it appears, that the liberty of 
these self-called Catholics is on a par with their 
charity and their modesty — and if there be any 
truth, as, in spite of Johnson's well known ridi- 
cule, there is much truth, in the hackneyed 
verse, 

" Who rules o'er freemen must himself be free," 

how admirably qualified would they be to rule 
over the free Church of England and Ireland ! 

I have said, that all are out of the pale of the 
Church of Rome, who differ from her in any 
single point declared by her to be of faith. This 
will not, cannot, be denied. Every single 
point of faith must be believed under pain of 
damnation. Fundamental and not fundamental 
is a distinction, which not only Bossuet, but 
Dr. Doyle, scorns and ridicules. " The unity 
M of faith," says the latter, " does not admit of 



186 WORST HERESY ACCORDING TO DR. DOYLE. 

c< more or less :"* in other words, it is no less 
a sin against divine faith, it no less excludes 
from all hope of salvation, to say, in at least 
apparent conformity to the Second Command- 
ment, " that no religious worship is due to an 
f! image of the Virgin Mary," than to " deny that 
" Jesus Christ is come in the flesh," a denial, 
of which St. John expressly tells us that it is 
the spirit of Antichrist. 

But they more especially are shut out of the 
pale of Christ's fold, and cut off from the com- 
mon hope of Christians, who deny the power of 
the Church of Rome thus to pronounce defini- 
tively and infallibly in every matter of religious 
belief. As Dr. Doyle himself says, in an ad- 
dress to the " Clergy of Carlow," &c. 28th of 
August, 1825 — " it is the worst of Heresy, and a 
" virtual apostacy from the Christian reli- 
" gion to assert that the gates of Hell have 
" ever prevailed against this Church" — " that 
" is, that the pastors and people who compose it, 
" have ever, at any period, even for a single hour, 
" professed error :"— a sentence, by which 
every national church, every denomination of 
Christians throughout the world, which differs 
from Rome in the minutest point of faith, is 



* Essay, p. 259. 



ATTEMPTS TO SOFTEN THESE DOCTRINES. 187 

pronounced to be in a state of the most damna- 
ble heresy. 

It is true, that in the course of the examina- 
tion, particularly before the Committee of the 
House of Commons, there are various attempts 
made to dilute and soften this monstrous 
dogma. Among other things it is said by Dr. 
Murray (p. 228.) " it is only contumacious error 
" in faith, and an obstinate denial of an article of 
" the Catholic faith, which is called Heresy , ' — 
again, "with respect to Protestants," says he, 
" we do not hold that all who are not united 
f externally to the Catholic Church are to be 
" lost ; we even hope that many who are attach- 
" ed to other bodies of Christians may ( not having 
" sufficient opportunity of becoming acquainted with 
" the true faith ) be treated with mercy before the 
" Supreme Judge.'" " All Protestants who are 
" baptized become, by the very act of this 
" baptism, members of the Church of Christ, 
ff children of God, and heirs of everlasting life." 
f * A person baptized, growing up in ignorance of 
i( what we consider the true faith, and without the 
U means of arriving at it, if he do not commit any 
V other grievous sins to exclude him from Heaven, 
" will reach the glory of God's kingdom with as 
" much certainty as any one externally united to 
" our body." This is the language of Dr. Murray; 



188 ERROR OF BRITISH PROTESTANTS 



and that of Dr. Kelly, Roman Catholic Archbi- 
shop of Tuam, is similar. " To constitute a he* 
" retic, contumacy in error with respect to mat- 
** ters of faith is necessary." But when this last 
mentioned prelate is required to explain what 
he means by contumacy (p. 243.) he honestly 
says, " those who, after having had a full oppor- 
" tunity of acquiring a knowledge of the truths 
" which I consider necessary to salvation, and 
" of having their error removed, if they still 
'* persist, I do consider such error on their part 
" to be voluntary, and that they therefore be- 
" come contumacious" — a sentence by which, I 
apprehend, that all persons at least in all the 
educated classes of life in this country are re- 
quired to be Roman Catholics, under the penalty 
of eternal perdition. 

But Dr. Doyle's language in a work written 
in a very different tone from that of his exami- 
nation before the Committee, goes still further. 
After saying that " a man might err with regard 
" to any truth of religion ; but he would not on 
" that account be an heretic :" he immediately 
subjoins the following important intimation of 
his opinion respecting British Protestants — " I 
" do not mean to say, whether whosoever in 
" this country leans upon invincible ignorance 
" may not lean upon a broken reed" ! (Letters 



VOLUNTARY AND DAMNABLE. 



189 



of I. K. L p. 200.) And again, much more 
plainly, in a letter addressed by him as bishop to 
certain of his Clergy, forbidding them to renew 
their disputes with members of the Bible So^ 
ciety — " They profess to be seeking for truth — 
" this can only be found in the Catholic Church" 
— " to ascertain the existence of this Church — 
" for the infidel, signs and tongues may be ne- 
"cessary; for a Christian, the grace of his 
" baptism, and the creed which he has learned 
M at his mother's breast, is quite sufficient; and 
" to such at least as are born and educated in 
" these countries, it must be quite obvious, if 
" they be humble, pious, dispassionate, and not 
" maddened with enthusiasm, that no sect or 
" denomination of Christians existing in it (the 
" Catholics alone excepted) have not separated 
" themselves from the one Holy Catholic and 
" Apostolic Church at a certain time, and for 
" causes but too well ascertained ; and as to 
" the consequences of such a separation, it is 
" not for me, whilst addressing you, to state 
" them, or to give expression to that deep 
" affliction which the consideration of them ex- 
" cites within us." 

Now the plain meaning of all this is, that the 
great mass of Protestants in England and Ire- 
land are, because they are Protestants, in a 



190 BRITISH PROTESTANTS BELIEVED 



state of perdition ; that not only our Church is 
an heretical church, but that being such, those 
who belong to it, cannot, generally speaking, be 
esteemed other than heretics, and of course under 
the eternal condemnation annexed to heresy. 

In accordance with this is the sworn state- 
ment of Mr. Bennett (a dispassionate and judi- 
cious observer, and a friend be it remembered to 
the claims of the Roman Catholics) that " the im- 
pression which most of the sermons and exhor- 
tations of the priests (in Ireland) are calculated 
to produce is, that there is no salvation out of 
their own church ; that he has himself heard 
them preach the doctrine of exclusive salvation, 
and that the general effect upon their minds, when 
they come to the question is, that their Protestant 
neighbour is in a state of perdition^ — (Lords, p. 
193, 194.) 

Nay, even their catechisms, especially But- 
ler's, which is revised and recommended by the 
four Roman Catholic Archbishops of Ireland, as 
a general catechism for the kingdom, distin- 
guishes the sin of not endeavouring to know 
what God has taught from that of not believing 
what God has taught; and distinctly calls those 
who are guilty of the latter, heretics or infidels 
— " Who are they, who do not endeavour to 
" know what God has taught ?" " They who neg- 



TO BE IN A STATE OF PERDITION. 191 

" lect to learn the Christian doctrine." " Who 
" are they who do not believe what God has 
" taught ?" " Heretics and infidels." Here we 
see is no allowance for invincible ignorance or 
involuntary error. In another part of the same 
catechism it is distinctly said, that none can be 
saved out of the true Church, and that the true 
Church is the Roman Church, of which the 
Pope, who is Christ's Vicar on earth, is the su- 
preme visible head. 

As to the plausible statement, that all bap- 
tized persons, being as such members of the 
Church, if they fall not from it by voluntary 
error in matters of faith, still continue members 
whatever be their errors — it is enough to say 
that even this cannot give to Protestants any 
hopes of salvation under the terms of the creed 
of Pius IV. to which every beneficed minister 
subscribes upon his oath : the phrase there 
used is, " this true Catholic Faith, out of which 
there is no salvation." 

But even if this were otherwise, and if " in- 
" voluntary" or " invincible ignorance" could 
be pleaded for every Protestant in the land, let 
us see how far the concession would really 
carry us. It is to be remembered then, that, 
although baptism entirely removes the guilt of 
original sin, and also of all actual sins committed 



192 PROTESTANTS HAVE NO MEANS OF PARDON. 

before baptism, yet every mortal sin committed 
after baptism can be remitted (according to the 
Church of Rome) only in the Sacrament of Pe- 
nance — that no degree of contrition, without 
that sacrament, either actually received, or in- 
tended, can wash away the guilt of such sin : it 
must also be remembered, that mortal sin, ac- 
cording to that Church, is most easily incurred 
— that no man, indeed, without extraordinary 
degrees of grace, can avoid incurring it — and 
yet, when incurred, it consigns the soul to eter- 
nal perdition, unless removed by the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, which sacrament, I repeat, 
can be had only in the Church of Rome. 

Even Dr. Murray intimates as much, though 
in covert terms, in the words which I before 
cited from his evidence before the Commons, 
page 229. " A person baptized, growing up in 
" ignorance of what we consider the true faith, 
" and without the means of arriving at it, if he 
" do not commit any other grievous sin to exclude 
" him from heaven, will reach the glory of God's 
" kingdom," &c. ; and again, with regard to bap- 
tized Protestants, " nothing can deprive them 
" of the title received by baptism to the inhe- 
" ritance of Heaven, but some actual sin, whether 
" that sin be the sin of refusing, through their 
" own fault, to accept the faith that God has 



FOR SIN AFTER BAPTISM. 



193 



" revealed, or any other actual sin." — Dr. Doyle 
has stated that " he includes as belonging to 
" this Church, not only children, idiots, and 
" madmen, but all those who, not having them- 
" selves adopted error, but imbibed it from their 
" ancestors — seek earnestly to discover truth, 
" and are ready, on finding it, to stand corrected. 
" All such, if baptized, belong unquestionably 
" to the Church, though, in external communion, 
" they are without her pale, and their errors 
" are not, in our opinion, so great an obstacle to 
" their salvation, as the want of Sacraments and 
" other aids of which by their situation they are 
" deprived."* 

Here, then, is the amount of the utmost con- 
cession, which can be made even to those whose 
involuntary error, and invincible ignorance, 
keep them out of the pale of the Church of 
Rome. They will be saved — if they do not 
commit any actual sin. But if they sin, for 
them there is no remission — the blood of Christ 
has been shed in vain — the gospel of Christ 
has been preached in vain — If they sin, they 
have no share in the common blessing promised 
to Christian sinners — If they sin, they have not 
" an advocate with the Father" — " Jesus Christ 

* Defence by I. K. L. page 67. 
O 



194 



HOUSE OF COMMONS. 



" the righteous is not the propitiation for their 
" sins." They have fallen from grace given in 
baptism, and to them no " place of repentance" 
is left, though they seek it with tears of anguish 
and " groans which cannot be uttered:" their 
" broken and contrite hearts" — the Church of 
Rome hath said, (and who shall dare to gainsay 
it?) — " their broken and contrite hearts, O Lord, 
" thou shalt despise." 

Sir, when I think of these things, and turn to 
the laborious trifling* of the Committee, before 
whom such miserable, such transparent sophistry 
was played off, seemingly with success — when 
I hear, even in the House of Commons, all dis- 
tinction between the Churches of Rome and 
England, in the most vital article of all, Chris- 
tian charity — absolutely surrendered — surren- 
dered even by him, whose triumphant efforts 
in a good cause we have so often hailed with 
gratitude and delight — I cannot but deplore the 

* If it were not recorded in their Report, page 244, it would 
not be believed, that one of these volunteer Theologues was 
pleased to propound the following question ; " What is the 
" distinction, which you take, between schism and heresy ? is 
i( it, that the one is voluntary, and the other involuntary?' The 
Report does not state, whether the witness had sufficient com- 
mand of his muscles to answer the question with all the gravity 
which the interest of his cause required. 



.SENTIMENTS OF PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 195 

lamentable state of religious knowledge in that 
class, where, above all, it is most important to 
the common good of all. For to them, as one 
of the branches of the British legislature, is 
entrusted, by the constitution of this land, the 
guardianship of their religion, — the religion of 
us, of our fathers, of our children, and, I trust 
in God's mercy, of our children's children. 
They are to legislate for the Church of England ; 
they are to preserve that most sacred of all the 
interests committed to their charge ; and, if 
they abandon it — whether by treachery — (but 
treachery will never be found in many among 
them) — or by negligence, or by ignorance, or 
by that greatest curse, which has fallen upon 
our times, a misnamed spurious liberality — in 
vain will all their other merits plead for them 
at the impartial bar of an enlightened posterity. 
History will stamp her avenging brand upon 
their names, and most deeply, and most in- 
delibly, on the most illustrious name among 
them. 

But they will not abandon it. Thank God, 
the people, whom they represent, and who long 
watched in silence, but not in unreflecting 
silence, the progress of their delusion, that peo- 
ple is not yet fully imbued with the fashionable 
folly of the day. It has raised its voice, not in 

o2 



196 



HERETIC NURSES FORBIDDEN. 



the senseless clamours of a mob, but in the firm 
and dignified tone of genuine British feeling. 
% To be told, that Rome and England are on a 
par in respect to religious tolerance, or intoler- 
ance — to hear an argument for the surrender of 
our fundamental laws founded on such an asser- 
tion — was an insult to that feeling, an outrage on 
truth and common sense, too gross for English- 
men to brook. They have spoken out. They 
have declared their sober, their deliberate judg- 
ment; and never yet has the British House of 
Commons heard that judgment without respect 
and reverence. 

But I return to the task before me — to trace 
some of the practical forms in which the hateful 
and overbearing spirit of Rome delights to dis- 
play its triumph over the common feelings of 
our nature. It begins even with the babyhood 
of its miserable thralls. With a refinement of 
jealous tyranny, which would be ludicrous, if 
it were not revolting, it proclaims in the rubric 
to its office of Baptism, that " parents and others 
V are to be admonished not to trust their children 
" to be in any wise suckled or nursed by heretic 
" women!'* It prosecutes its wretched malice 
even beyond the limits of mortal existence. It 



* Ritual. Rom. p. 24. 



BURIAL OF HERETICS. 



197 



not only refuses the obsequies of the Church to 
those whom it calls heretics, (a refusal to which 
no reasonable objection could be made,) but it 
denies them also such " maimed rites'' as the 
piety and affection of surviving friends might 
contrive to render to them in a land of strangers. 

In many countries, no funeral of a Protestant 
can take place except in the loneliest hours of 
night, or morning twilight; no protection given 
to the place of sepulture; but the human corse, 
which has been the temple of the Holy Ghost, 
while living, and will be, as Christian charity 
bids us hope, hereafter " raised again in glory" — - 
is interred in some open field like a dead dog.* 
Nor are these things the unauthorized acts of 
a local priesthood, or concessions to the preju- 
dice of a bigoted populace : no, they have their 
prototypes and sanction in the decree of at least 
one General Council. That of Constance, in its 
eighth session, solemnly commanded that the 

* I wish not to disparage the permission, recently, and after 
much negotiation, given by the present Pope to the Protestants 
at Rome to inclose their burial-ground. I will only say, that 
those who best know all the circumstances attending this affair, 
will be least inclined to vaunt its liberality. But does not the 
necessity of negociation on such a subject, and still more the 
notorious difficulties in bringing it to a tolerable conclusion, 
prove all that is necessary ? 



198 DR. DOYLE ON R. C. BURIAL ACT. 

bones of our countryman WiclifF, whom, when 
dead, they were pleased to sentence as a here- 
tic, should be dug from the earth in which they 
lay, and cast out as vile.* The prohibition of 
the interment of heretics in consecrated ground 
is expressly enjoined in the bull of Martin V. 
" Inter cunctas,"f a bull, which gave the papal 
sanction to such portions of the Council's pro- 
ceedings, as are recognised as valid, and among 
them to its decrees against heretics. Yet, 
knowing all this, Dr. Doyle has the confidence 
to speak of the law, which permits Roman-Ca- 
tholics in Ireland publicly to use their own rites 
in burying in our churchyards, (on observing 
the lightest condition that could be devised, 
consistently with the existence of our own 
establishment) — Dr. Doyle has the confidence, 
I say, to speak of this law, as (( a charter of 
*' toleration for their dead, founded on the de- 
" gradation of the living." " The Catholics," 
says he, " like one man, despised this bill — 
** their priests and prelates universally would 
" rather be condemned to labour at some tread- 
" mill, than seek a license for interment, a per- 
" mit that the remains of one of their communion 

* Labb. Con. t. xvi. p. 119. 

t Ibid. p. 754. Dr. Doyle himself cites this bull as of un- 
questioned authority. " Essay/' p. 131. 



MARRIAGES WITH HERETICS. 



199 



" should be gathered to those of his fathers, in 
" the vault or ground which his own religion 
" had inclosed and consecrated."* Really, 
these persons are so cockered and spoiled by 
the flattery of our liberal politicians, that they 
have not even the decent discretion to soften 
their most unreasonable pretensions. 

But I return to the practice of their own 
Church. The same odious spirit, which makes 
it a subject of grave precaution, that heresy 
be not sucked in with the nurse's milk, and 
which violates the decencies of our common 
nature in refusing the protection even of a secure 
grave to the bones of a deceased Protestant, 
has intruded itself into the dearest connections 
of domestic life, and sought to make the mar- 
riage-bed a scene of discord and polemic alter- 
cation. Had the Church of Rome been content 
to dissuade its followers from marrying with 
persons of a different communion, it would have 
deserved no censure — but it disdains so tame a 
course. Bull following upon Bull, and in par- 
ticular a papal rescript which is now before me, 
after " most deeply lamenting that there are 
" Catholics who are so maddened by an insane 
" love, as not to flee with horror from these detest^ 



* Letters of I. K. L. p. 62. 31. 



200 



RESCRIPT OF THE PRESENT POPE 



" able nuptials which the Holy Mother, the 
ei Church, has always condemned and inter- 
V dieted," proceeds to give high praise to u the 
" zeal of those priests who strive, by more than 
" ordinary severity of spiritual punishment, to 
" coerce and restrain all Catholics from uniting 
" themselves in this sacrilegious bond with 
" heretics;*' and " all faithful ministers of God 
" and the Church are strictly enjoined to deter, 
" to the utmost of their power, their people of 
" both sexes from engaging in these marriages, 
" to the ruin of their souls;" nay, " they are to 
" make it their business*' (of course in the con- 
fessional) " to interrupt and effectually prevent 
" them. But if (which God forbid!) it should 
" happen that such a marriage shall be con- 
" tracted, every Catholic spouse (whether hus- 
" band or wife) must take most seriously to 
" heart the duty of doing penance for the very 
" heinous wickedness thereby committed; must 
" pray to God for pardon, and must strive to the 
" utmost to draw into the bosom of the Church his, 
" or her partner, (now wandering from the true 
" faith,) and so to gain a soul, the most appro- 
" priate of all methods to obtain pardon for the 
" crime committed." 

Now, by whom was this monstrous order 
framed? By the present Pope.— When did it 



ON MARRIAGES WITH HERETICS. 201 



issue? In the spring of last year. It was set 
forth in the spring of 1825, while the Committee 
of the House of Commons was fondly catching 
the honeyed dew of peace and brotherly love, 
as it trickled from the guileless lips of Drs. 
Doyle, Murray, Kelly, and Magaurin: — nay, it 
was, for aught I know, at the very moment 
when a great British statesman was announcing 
to parliament, his glad conviction, that the 
Church of Rome had laid aside all her ancient 
bigotry and intolerance, was become as placid 
and as amiable as heart could wish; was, in 
short, no more uncharitable in its judgment of 
the people of other communions, than we our- 
selves. — But, above all, to whom was this rescript 
directed? was it to the Pope's own temporal 
subjects? or to his countrymen in Italy? was 
it to Spaniards, Austrians, Frenchmen ? was it 
to the members of any state which owns his 
authority? — To none of these. — To whom, then, 
has he dared to address this shameless avowal 
of his arrogance, no less than of his bigotry? — 
To subjects of this realm — to the inhabitants 
of " the Islands in North America belonging to 
f Great Britain" — to Englishmen like our- 
selves. 

Shall I say more of the spirit of the Church 
of Rome? of its unaltered, its unalterable, its 



202 INTOLERANCE OF ROMAN CHURCH. 

inherent, its essential hostility to all that dare 
to be independent of its will? Shall I stop to 
ask whether the adherents of that Church, 
honourable and high-minded, as many of them 
may be, (and no men of any communion are 
more honourable or more high-minded, than 
the Roman-Catholic gentry of this land,) are 
fit to be entrusted with the power of legislating 
for a nation and for a Church of Protestants? 
for men, to whom the rights of conscience are 
dearer even than those civil liberties, which 
they would yet rather die a thousand deaths 
than suffer to be wrested from them? 

Let us be no longer told, that the Roman- 
Catholic gentry partake not of the rancorous 
feelings of their spiritual rulers; — that they hold 
not the tenets which sanction them — that those 
tenets are no essential part of their religion. 
When they speak thus, we believe that they 
speak sincerely. But then they must be plainly 
told, that they are dupes; — they are dupes of 
that treacherous policy, which has distinguished 
the heads of their Church from the moment 
when it first conceived a hope of lording over 
the household of faith, and has never since been 
abandoned. 

If those tenets be not essential, let the autho- 
rity, be it what it may, which can declare what 



INTOLERANCE OF ROMAN CHURCH. 203 

is, or is not essential, renounce and disclaim 
them. If this be not done, no adequate security 
can be given to any free Protestant state against 
the arrogant pretensions, the rancorous malig- 
nity, of their Church itself. If this be not done, 
let those among them (and there are many such) 
who cherish the feelings of Christian charity, 
and respect the rights of other Christians, either 
emancipate themselves from the bonds of reli- 
gious tyranny, or candidly acknowledge that 
it is not the Crown, it is not the Heir to the 
Crown, it is not the House of Lords, it is not 
the people of England — it is the Pope, it is the 
Church of Rome itself, which bars the entrance 
of the British senate, and condemns them to 
a state of mortifying but necessary exclusion. 

The reason of this exclusion will last as long 
as this hateful spirit of intolerance in your 
Church shall last. Whether the Pope's claim 
to power in temporals be granted or denied ; 
whether infallibility be ascribed to him, or not ; 
whether none or all of the Gallican liberties be 
asserted in Ireland, are questions of compara- 
tively little moment. In truth, we find in his- 
tory, that those who have been most strenuous 
in resisting the lofty pretensions of the Vatican 
have often been distinguished by the utmost 
excess of intolerance in their own principles 



204 BOSSUET S PERSECUTING DOCTRINE. 



and conduct. The Council of Constance, we 
have seen, while it laboured to impose limits on 
the exorbitant power of the Pope, murdered 
Hus and Jerome, dug up the bones of WiclifF, 
and enacted canons against heretics, scarcely 
less ferocious than those of Lateran. The 
author, or, at least, the consolidator of the Gal- 
lican liberties, Bossuet himself, was the chief of 
persecutors ; he was a persecutor on principle, 
and has recorded his principle as the unques- 
tioned and unquestionable dogma of his Church. 
" The Church of Rome," says he, " is the most 
" intolerant of all Christian sects ; it is her holy 
" and inflexible incompatibility' — (never was a 
word better chosen or more happily applied) — 
" it is her holy and inflexible incompatibility, 
" which renders her severe, unconciliating, and 
" odious to all sects separated from her; they 
" desire only to be tolerated by her; but her 
" holy severity forbids such indulgence." He 
has said also, " The exercise of the power of the 
61 sword, in matters of religion and conscience, is 
" a point not to be called in question; there is no 
" illusion more dangerous, than to make tolera- 
" tion a characteristic of the true Church."* 
But all this Dr. Murray resolves into meta- 



* Cited in the Committee of Lords, p. 267. 



bossuet's persecuting doctrine. 205 



phor and figure of speech. Aye, it was in a 
metaphor, that this very Bossuet counselled 
Louis XIV. to revoke the edict of Nantes. It 
was merely a stroke of pious rhetoric, to call on 
the assembled Peers and nobles of the land, in 
God's own house, to 44 raise their acclamations 
4 4 even to the vault of Heaven, and thus to 
4 4 address their new Charlemagne, * you have 
44 4 given stability to the true faith, you have 
" * exterminated the heretics; this is the work 
44 4 worthy of your reign, this is the glorious 
4 4 4 distinction by which it will be known in 
4 4 4 history.*' " All this, no doubt, was rhetoric, 
and it was no fault of Bossuet's, if the matter- 
of-fact monarch took him at his word, and com- 
pelled many hundred thousands of his most 
industrious, most loyal, most conscientious sub- 
jects, to fly from the very soil of France, and 
seek for shelter in some foreign land, where 

* Oraison Funebre de M. le Chancelier, p. 269. Bossuet 
there tells his hearers, that the dying Chancellor in fixing the 
seal to the Edict of Revocation, said that " after this triumph of 
" the faith, and so grand a monument of the piety of the king, 
" he had no longer any care but to close his days.'' 

For reference to this passage I am indebted to the speech of 
Lord Colchester on the memorable 1 7th of May, 1825 ) a speech, 
of which I may be permitted to say, that it is not less distin- 
guished by its luminous and powerful argument, than by the 
rich store of valuable information which it contains. 



206 LOYALTY OF IRISH ROMAN-CATHOLICS. 

figures of speech are less potential, and meta- 
phors do no murder. 

But Ireland, too, is a land of metaphors. 
" Rhetorical artifices" are as common there as 
they have ever been elsewhere ; and the prac- 
tical figures of speech which its history records, 
might rival the choicest effusion from the school 
of Loyola or Bossuet. The following is an in- 
stance from the Memoirs of Lord Orrery : — 

" The Irish (Roman Catholics) had presented to his Ma- 
"jesty (King Charles II. after his restoration) a petition, 
" wherein they remonstrated their great oppression, and their 
" loyalty in the wars, begging to be restored to their estates and 
" liberties, unjustly taken away from them. The English (in 
" Ireland) had early notice of this petition, and solicited that 
" there might be a fair hearing allowed at the Council Board 
" in England, by deputies on both sides 5 which reasonable re- 
" quest was soon granted, and the day of hearing appointed 
" which being come, his Majesty was pleased to afford his pre- 
" sence, and with him the Duke of Ormond, Lord Chancellor, 
" and several others of great quality." " Lord Orrery pro- 
" duced a paper, and desired it might be shewn to Plunket and 
" the other Irish commissioners, to know, whether they w r ould 
" own the names there subscribed to be their hands. Plunket 
" and the rest seeing the paper, acknowledged they were their 
ec hands. Then my Lord desired the paper might be read, 
" which accordingly was done 3 and it appeared to be an order, 
" or declaration, made at the Irish Supreme Council, wherein 
" they declared unanimously to prosecute the Lord of Ormond, 
" their Lord Lieutenant, and his party, with fire and sword." 
" Then his Lordship delivered another paper to his Majesty, 



LOYALTY OF IRISH R. C. BISHOPS. 207 



" desiring the gentlemen of the Irish commission to declare 
" whether the names there subscribed, also were not theirs ? 
" They seeing it, could not deny it was their hand. Lord Or- 
** rery desired it might be read 5 and the paper appeared to be 
" instructions to Sir Nicholas Plunket and one more" (the Ro- 
man Bishop of Ferns ) " to go to the Pope., and in their names 
" (calling themselves the Supreme Council of Ireland) to offer 
iC that kingdom to his Holiness; and if he refused, then to offer it 
" to the King of Spain; if he refused it, to the King of France ; 
" if he refused it, to the Duke of Lorraine ; and if he refused it, 
" then to any other Catholic Prince." — p. 32 — 34. 

Such was at that time the meaning of the 
highly figurative phrase, Irish " loyalty in the 
" wars," rendered into plain English. 

My next extract shall be from the preamble 
of the 9th William III. c. 1.* a prince and a pe- 
riod, to which some authority was wont to be 
ascribed. It commences thus: " Whereas it is 
" notoriously known that all the late rebellions 
" have been contrived, promoted, and carried on by 
" Popish Archbishops, Bishops, Jesuits, and other 
" ecclesiastical persons of the Romish Clergy" 

In the journals of the Irish House of Commons, 
A.D. 1733 (p. 47. )| it is recorded, that from a 
deposition on oath, made before a Committee of 
that House, and corroborated by collateral evi- 
dence, it appears, that " the Pope (Benedict 

* Irish Statutes. 

f Cited in Commons, p. 54*2,, and Appendix, 850. 



208 LOYALTY OF IRISH R. C. BISHOPS. 



*' XIII.) had complied with the requests of the 
" archbishops and bishops of Ireland, and that his 
" Holiness had sent an Indulgence for ten 
" years, in order to raise a sum of money to be 
" speedily applied to restore King James the 
" Third to his right, and put his present Ma- 
" jesty (George II.) and all the royal family to 
" the sword." 

By the sworn evidence of Dr. James Mac- 
nevin before the Committee of Irish House of 
Lords, in 1798, it is stated to have been part 
of the instructions from the Executive Directory 
of the Irish Union to their accredited agent 
with the French Directory — " That the Catholic 
" Pjiests had ceased to be alarmed at the 
" calumnies which had been propagated of 
" French irreligion, and were well affected to the 
"cause: that some of them had rendered great 
" service in propagating with discreet zeal the 
" system of the Irish Union. " # There was also 
respectable sworn testimony that " Dr. Caul- 
"field, Romish Bishop of Ferns, blessed the pike- 
" men, as they were proceeding to massacre the 
" Protestants on the bridge of Wexford." One 
Dease, a Popish priest, who was taken with 
French arms in his possession, declared upon 

* Joinnals of Irish House of Lords, A.D. 1798. p. 155. 



DR. DOYLE S SINCERITY. 



209 



oath, that some time before the French landed, 
the Roman- Catholic " bishop of Killala, Dr. 
(< Bellew, ordered his clergy, at a general meeting 
" to join and assist them."* 

These various statements will help us to 
understand the bold figure of speech, employed 
in the following passage of an address to his 
present Majesty, when Prince Regent — " No 
u portion of his Majesty's subjects is, or has at 
" any time been, more eminently distinguished for 
" pure, conscientious, and disinterested loyalty, 
" than the Roman Catholic prelates of Ireland r ."f 

But it is time to notice a few of Dr. Doyle's 
similar figures ; they certainly are not among 
the least curious, which the records of Irish 
affairs supply. " I never," says he to the Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons, (p. 210.) " I 
" never spoke without sincerity and in his recent 
Essay on Catholic Claims (p. 103.) we read as 
follows— desire to equivocate or obscure the 

truth, by casuistry, could never find a place in my 
" mind." Now let me illustrate these sayings 
of his by one or two instances. 

* Musgrave, Hist. ii. p. 482. 1/J. 

f I cite this and two or three preceding instances from the 
appendix to a valuable pamphlet, entitled ** Dangers with 
" which England and Ireland are now menaced," &c. — Riving- 
tons, 1817. 



210 



DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



1. It will be recollected that the prophesies of 
Pastorini had ventured to fix the downfal of the 
Protestant cause, and the destruction of the 
Protestant princes and people, for the year 
1825. These prophesies, it was known, had 
been circulated in some degree, and were sup- 
posed to have produced some effect, whether 
more or less, on the easily excited minds of the 
Irish populace : and the Committee of the 
House of Lords availed themselves of the exa- 
mination of Dr. Doyle to endeavour to ascertain 
the extent of the mischief thus produced. Ac- 
cordingly, they ask Dr. Doyle " whether they 
" have been circulated extensively, on a sepa- 
" rate sheet, among the peasantry of Ireland V 
His answer is as follows : " I do not know ; the 
" book is a large one ; that there may have been 
" an extract of that kind printed and circulated 
" among the peasantry, I have little doubt; at 
<f the same time I am very confident, that, if 
" done, it has been done lately, by 'persons in the 
" South,* to excite dissention in Ireland, and to 
" produce appearances of disturbance."^ He after- 
wards tells their lordships, that " he has himself 
" discountenanced the publication, and endea- 

* And therefore at a great distance from Dr. Doyle's own 
diocese, which is not in the South, 
t Lords, 247. 



OX PASTOR [Nl's PROPHESIES. 



211 



" voured successfully to prevent altogether the 
" reading of it ; in fine, that he is persuaded 
" there is no one in his diocese, ivho gives the least 
xi countenance to it" Mr. O'Connell's account 
(p. 167.) is still more satisfactory: he " thinks 
" that no effect has been produced upon the 
" lower orders of the Irish Catholics by what 
" are called Pastorini's Prophesies." 

Now, after the concurrent attestations of two 
such respectable witnesses, speaking, be it re- 
membered, on their oath, could scepticism itself 
any longer suggest a doubt, whether the pro- 
phesies of Pastorini have not been utterly disre- 
garded ? 

Thus the affair stood : when two months 
afterwards it was deemed expedient to produce 
evidence before the Committee of the other 
House, to prove, not the loyalty of Dr. Doyle, 
(that, of course, could not be called into ques- 
tion) but the extent of his claim on the gratitude 
of Government, and of his country, for his labo- 
rious and successful exertions in preserving the 
public peace. I need not remind you, Sir, who 
are a lawyer, how often the most promising- 
cause has been lost by proving too much ! This 
has, unfortunately, been the case in the present 
instance. The production of Dr. Doyle's 
" Pastoral Letter," addressed to his diocese in 

p 2 



212 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



the commencement of the late disturbances, 
and dated Nov. 19th, 1822, which letter, we 
are told, ' ' produced a very powerful and happy 
"effect on the minds of the people" — the produc- 
tion, I repeat, of this Pastoral, has placed that 
prelate in the very awkward position, of its being 
impossible to believe more than half of what he 
has said on these prophesies ; and it has, more- 
over, left us quite in the dark, as to which half 
we are to believe, unless common fame, and 
common sense, shall be thought to have decided 
against his sworn testimony before the Lords, 
and in favour of what he delivered to those who 
must themselves have known, whether his as- 
sertions were true or false. 

I shall have occasion to recur to this Pastoral 
Letter again presently ; meanwhile I present my 
readers with the following extracts from it 
respecting Pastorini's Prophesies, which I re- 
quest them to compare with Dr. Doyle's evi- 
dence cited above. 

" And what were the motives/' says this prelate to his erring 
people, " which influenced you to act thus, and even to profane 
ce the awful name of God, and rashly to call Him to attest your 
ce wicked purposes?"* " Your faith in prophesies. This, dearest 
" brethren, is a subject, which we find it difficult to treat with 
" becoming seriousness, and yet it is one, which has produced 

* Commons, p. 667. 



ON PASTORINl's PROPHESIES. 



213 



" among you the most deplorable effects. I have been credibly 
" informed, that during the course of the last year, when great 
" numbers of you, yielding to our remonstrance, and those of our 
" clergy, had withdrawn yourselves from those mischievous 
" associations, you were prevailed on to return to them, ex- 
" cited by some absurd stories called ' Prophesies,' and which 
" were disseminated amongst you by designing and wicked men. 
" There have been, to our own knowledge, instances of persons 
" neglecting their domestic concerns, and abandoning their 
" families to misery and want, through a vain hope, grounded 
" on some supposed prophesy, that mighty changes were just 
" approaching. For more than half a century it was predicted, 
" that George the Fourth would not reign ; and his very ap- 
" pearance amongst you was scarcely sufficient to dispel the 
" illusion. Such excessive credulity on your parts, and such a 
" superstitious attachment to fables, a thousand times belied^ 
" is a melancholy proof of the facility with which you may be 
" seduced by knaves," &c. 

" But you will tell me, that your prophesy is not of this kind, 
" that it is derived from the sacred Scriptures, as they are ex- 
" plained in the book of Pastorini, called ' the History of the 
" ' Christian Church that book, dearest brethren, has been 
" perverted to very different ends from those which the pious* 
"author intended." "Bishop Walmsley, commonly called 
" Pastorini, and the author of your favourite prophesy, wished," 
&c. 

After this, what shall we say to Dr. Doyle's 
attesting upon his oath, that " he does not know, 

* Dr. Doyle told the Lords, and took credit with them 
accordingly, that in a more recent pastoral he had called this 
same prophesy, " the impious production of an over-heated 
" mind and he further told them, on his oath, that " these 
" latter words express what he thinks of it." — (Lords, p. 247.) 



214 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 

" whether these prophesies have been circulated m- 
" tensively among the peasantry of Ireland— that 
« indeed he has little doubt, that there may 
" have been an extract of that kind printed and 
« circulated— but that at the same time he is 
" very confident, that, if done, it has been done 
" lately, in the South, to produce appearances of 
" disturbance."* 

2. I proceed to another specimen. It shall be % 
Dr. Doyle's statement of his opinion of the ge- 
neral benefits which would be produced in Ire- 
land by what is called by the Committee of the 
Commons "Catholic Emancipation," by the 
Lords " the admission of the Catholics to equal 
" rights and privileges." I will take his answer 

* Dr. Doyle in his "Essay," (p. 197, 198.) ascribes the cir- 
culation of the prophesies to Orangemen : he adds, " Major 
" Warburton, who supplied a copy of them to the House of 
<k Commons in 1824, admits in his re-examination on the 21st 
". of June, 1825, that these prophesies, though found in abund- 
u ance even amongst the police, were not circulated by Catholics." 
This is like so many other of Dr. Doyle's assertions : what Ma- 
jor Warburton really said is as follows : — Q. " The reports (of 
" disturbances) to which you have alluded, were reports of the 
" intended rising of the Catholics, encouraged by the prophe- 
" sies of Pastorini ; by whom were such reports circulated?" 
A. " Upon my word I never could trace by whom." Q. " Do 
" you apprehend they (i. e. the reports) were circulated by the 
sl Catholics ?" A. <c Indeed I do not suppose they were." It 
would have been strange if they had been. 



ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 



215 



before the Lords, because it was given last, and 
given upon oath, and must therefore be reason- 
ably considered as expressing his genuine and 
deliberate judgment. It is as follows : — 

" I think that the general benefits produced 
6 * by it would be incalculable. Tarn quite corift- 
" dent it would put an end to those religious heats and 
" animosities which now prevail so generally. I 
" am also of opinion it would tranquillize the public 
" mind effectually, and make us all sit down quietly 
" to promote our local and general interests. I 
" also think," &c. " In fact, I think it would knit 
" together, and effectually secure the affections of 
" the multitude as well as of individuals, and make 
" us one people immediately, and I hope in a 
" few years a very happy and prosperous people. 
" Those are my views, such as I entertain them in 
" the presence of God and your Lordships," 8$c. 

Considering the main subject which was then 
occupying the attention of Parliament, and the 
bill which was already introduced, or was 
known to be about to be introduced, into the 
Lower House, nothing could be said by Dr. 
Doyle more satisfactory, or more striking. The 
whole weight of his authority, we see, (and his 
authority had much apparently to recommend 
it,) is given in favour of the great political mea- 
sure then in progress. That measure was not 



/ 



216 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 

only a good one, in his judgment, but seemingly 
the very best: it could not fail to attain its ob- 
ject — which object was no less than the imme- 
diate and perfect pacification of Ireland. 

To such an authority I will not presume to 
oppose any opinion of my own ; but I have an 
authority of no light weight to place in the con- 
trary scale. In short, to the judgment of Dr. 
Doyle, on 2 1st of March, 1825, I have to op- 
pose the judgment of Dr. Doyle on 13th of May, 
1824. 

That prelate, in a letter of his of the last 
mentioned date to A. Robertson, Esq. M.P. ex- 
presses himself as so much delighted with cer- 
tain sentiments reported to have been delivered 
by Mr. Robertson in the House of Commons, on 
the motion of Mr. Hume, relative to the Church 
Establishment in Ireland, that he could not, 
though a stranger, forbear addressing him, and 
communicating his entire accordance of opinion, 
" that the best, if not the only, effectual mode of pa- 
•f cijying Ireland, improving the condition of her 
" people, and consolidating the interests of the 
" empire, would be found in a union of the 
* ■ Churches which distract and divide us." 

" The whole frame of society amongst us," 
says he, 4< is disorganized." " This state of the 
" public mind and feeling is unquestionably 



ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 



217 



" produced by the inequality of the laws, and 
" still more immediately by the incessant collision 
" and conflict of religious opinions." 

A highly-coloured and awful picture is then 
drawn of the dangers and distractions of his 
unhappy country, one particular of which has 
such immediate connexion with our present 
subject, that I must not omit it. " The Catholic 
" aristocracy, as they are called, since the penal 
" laws were relaxed, have gradually withdrawn 
M themselves from the people ; they have shewn, 
" on some occasions, an overweening anxiety for 
" emancipation, at the expense of what the priest- 
" hood and the other classes deemed the interests, if 
" not the principles, of their religion; hence they 
" are looked on with suspicion, and can no longer 
" wield the public mind." 

"In such a state of things it behoves Parlia- 
" merit," &c. " and I have little doubt, if your 
" sentiments were adopted by it, but that 
" Ireland could be tranquillized, the union of 
" the countries cemented, peace and prosperity 
" diffused, and the empire rendered invulnera- 
" ble." 

" These results cannot be attained by Catholic Emancipation 
" alone." u Catholic Emancipation will not remedy the evils of 
" the Tithe system: it will not allay the fervour of religious 
!*• zeal — the perpetual clashing of two Churches, one elevated, 



I 



218 DR. DOYLE CONTRADICTS HIMSELF 



" the other fallen, both high-minded, perhaps intolerant: it 
" will not check the rancorous animosities with which (liferent 
" sects assail each other: it will not remove all suspicion of par - 
(< tiality in the government, were Antoninus himself the Vice- 
<e roy : it will not create that sympathy between the different 
" orders in the State, which is ever mainly dependent on religion, 
" nor produce that unlimited confidence between man and man, 
" which is the strongest foundation on which public welfare 
tc can repose, as well as the most certain pledge of a nation's 
'* prosperity. Withal, Catholic Emancipation is a great pub- 
" lie measure, and of itself not only would effect much, but 
" open a passage to ulterior measures, which a provident le-. 
" gislature could without difficulty effect. The union of the 
" Churches, however, which you have had the singular merit of 
" suggesting to the Commons of the United Kingdom, would 
" together and at once effect a total change in the dispositions of 
" men : it would bring all classes to co-operate zealously in 
" promoting the prosperity of Ireland, and in securing her alle- 
te giance for ever to the British Throne. The question of 
tc Emancipation would be swallowed up in the great inquiry, how 
s< Ireland could be enriched and strengthened." 

3. The proverb intimates, that it is hard to 
decide when doctors disagree; but when one 
Doctor is thus at variance with himself, the dif- 
ficulty is much lighter. In the present case, 
men of plain understanding will reject both Dr. 
Doyle's prescriptions. Will it be said, that one 
of them can be more easily taken than the other? 
— that his last nostrum, Emancipation, is really 
within the competence of parliament to effect; 
whereas the union of churches is what the most 



ON PROPOSED UNION OF THE CHURCHES. 219 

skilful compounder of politics and polemics 
would attempt in vain ? No. The Doctor has 
an answer ready: " This Union, on which so 
" much depends, is not so difficult, as appears 
" to many. It is not difficult; for in certain 
" discussions and correspondence, in the last 
" century, it appeared that the points of agree- 
" ment between the churches are numerous, 
" and the failure was owing more to Princes 
" than to Priests, — more to state-policy than to 
" a difference of belief. But the present time 
" is," he assures us, " peculiarly well calculated 
" for attempting it. For what interest can 
" England now have which is opposed to such 
" an Union, and what nation or church in the 
" universe can have stronger motives for de- 
" siring it than Great Britain, if by it she could 
" preserve her Church Establishment, perfect her 
" internal polity, and secure her external do- 
" minion ?" 

Now all this is very promising, and the 
reasons he gives for calling " the time favour- 
" able," are the most satisfactory imaginable. I 
have not room for all of them; but two or three 
must have a place: " The Irish Catholics," he 
says, " are wearied and fatigued; exceedingly 
" desirous of repose; the Established Religion is 
" almost frittered, away ;" but lastly, and princi- 



220 DR. doyle's contradiction of himself. 



pally, he depends on " the improvement of 
" men's minds during the last century, the light 
" and liberality which distinguish the present." 

These are the facilities which the present 
time affords for that " Union of the Churches of 
" England and Rome, under which a new sera 
" of happiness would commence in our history." 

So glowing a picture who can contemplate 
without delight? even if it were incapable of 
being ever completely realized, who would mar 
it with the rude brush of truth, and tell us that 
the whole is, and must ever continue to be, 
mere fiction? No one, certainly, but the inge- 
nious artist himself; and he has not scrupled 
to laugh outright at all who can be such fools, 
as to believe a single word of all that he has 
been saying. 

<e Do not, my dear brethren," — it is part of Dr. Doyle's 
Pastoral Address of 1822,* — " do not, my dea^' brethren, be so 
" silly as to expect, that even if those, who differ from you in 
" religious belief in this country, were to change their creed, 
" they would embrace yours ; far from it ; they would, for 
" the greater part, cease to be Christians, or form a religion 
" for themselves ; it is not consistent with the nature of man, 
<c nor with the ordinary providence of God, that a body of 
" men, like our dissenting brethren, who have been separated 
" from the Church so long, and accustomed each of them to 
" judge for himself, in all matters human and divine, should 
€e again subject themselves to the yoke of authority and capti- 
* Commons, p. 670. 



DR. DOYLE AVERSE TO POLITICS. 221 



" vate their understanding to the obedience of faith 5 indivi- 
" duals might do so ; whole classes might do so 5 but neither 
" the power of the state, nor the force of laxv, nor the terror of 
" death; nothing short of miracle, greater than any hitherto re- 
" corded, could produce uniformity of religion in England or 
" here." 

4. My next illustration of Dr. Doyle's figu- 
rative mode of speaking shall be found in his 
answer to the following question from the Com- 
mittee of the House of Commons. — p. 216. 

cf Do you hold the same opinion, with respect to the elective 
" franchise, and the effect of attempts to disfranchise the forty 
" shilling freeholders, which are held by the author of the 
" letters of I. K. L. ?" A. " Upon that subject, as i happen 
" to be an ecclesiastic, if the Committee would indulge me by 
" permitting me not to express an opinion, they would favour 
" me much. In this place I would wish that any testimony I 
" am called upon to give should not be of a political kind ; for 
" if ever T took a part in political discussions, it was with great 
" reluctance, and only until the difficulties under which the 
(i country laboured enabled me to return to that privacy in 
" which I always wish to live. To give an opinion as to the 
" forty shilling freeholders would be rather a political one, than 
" one connected with religion ; therefore if the Committee 
" will indulge me in my own inclination, I should much rather 
" not give an opinion ; merely for this reason, that it is a political 
" question, and that I am an ecclesiastic." 

That the Committee was pleased to acquiesce 
in this answer, is only one of the many proofs 
of their cburtesy to this favoured and merito- 
rious witness. I hope it will be deemed no 



222 DR. DOYLE AVERSE TO POLITICS. 



breach of privilege, if I presume to shew how 
much their favour was merited by him in this 
instance. 

But, first, I must express my unfeigned admi- 
ration of the gravity of himself and his hearers, 
when he thus proclaimed the great reluctance 
with which he ever takes a part in political 
discussions. Why, there is scarcely a person 
in all Ireland so prominent or notorious on such 
occasions. It was but a few days before he set 
sail from that country, to give evidence before 
the Committee, that he published the last of 
the Letters of I. K. L. ; and of those Letters 
there is scarcely a page which does not teem 
with political matter of the most virulent and 
inflammatory kind :* and yet after a forbearance, 

* Let me give a specimen or two : " A police bill, and a 
" tithe-composition bill, and fifty thousand bayonets may 
" repress disturbances, but who can contemplate a brave and 
" generous people so abused ? Who can dwell in a country so 
" accursed? What man can appear before his God who has looked 
" patiently at such wrong, or who has not contributed by every 
" legal means to relieve his fellow-creatures from sufferings so 
ff intense?" p. 49. Again: " Reject them, insult them, con- 
" tinue to deprive them of hope, and they will league with 
" Beelzebub against you. Revenge is sweet, and the pride of 
" a nation is like the vanity of a woman, when wounded it is 
" relentless. They will repeal the Union. Yes, undoubtedly. 
" The present generation will not pass, if you continue the old 
" system, until you will find the cry for emancipation turned 



DR. DOYLE AVERSE TO POLITICS. 



223 



which could hardly have lasted longer than the 
time it took him to make his passage — after this 
totum triduum -he has the confidence to tell a 
Committee of the English House of Commons, 
that he hates politics, and is the most peaceable 
man living. Nay, when he ventures to express 
his wish that any testimony he may be called 
upon to give in that place " should not be of a 
" political kind," both he and they well knew 
that he had, the very instant before, given them 
his opinion, at length, on the great political 
question of Catholic Emancipation. 

" into a clamorous demand for that very measure. Irishmen were 
" before united in seeking to make this country independent ; 
" the embassy to the French Directory consisted not of Catho- 
(C lies but of Irishmen. They may unite again. The mighty 
" body of Catholics, growing, as it is, in size and strength, 
" will, like all large bodies, attract smaller ones to it ; the fury 
" of fanaticism may subside, and you will be amazed in a few 
" years at the coalition of interests in Ireland. If this power 
" which exists at present, and which will go on increasing, be 
" left conflicting with the power of the state, it will compel you 
" to kiss the feet of France, or wage against her the most dan- 
te gerous war in which England has ever been engaged." p. 285. 
Once more : " How often have I perceived in a congregation of 
" some thousand persons, how the 'very mention, from my own 
" tongue, of the penal code caused every eye to glisten, and every 
<( ear to stand erect j the trumpet of the last judgment, if sounded, 
" would not produce a more perfect stillness in any assemblage of 
* Irish peasantry, than a strong allusion to the wrongs we suffer." 
p. 287. 



224 IRISH FORTY SHILLING FREEHOLDERS. 



But no more of this. — Let us look to the subject 
of the forty shilling freeholders, and his recorded 
opinions thereupon. In order that they may be 
duly appreciated, it is necessary to premise 
a brief statement of the grounds of the measure 
itself, which I shall do in the words of a country- 
man of his own. 

" As soon as the Irish Act of 1793 conferred the elective 
" franchise on Roman Catholic freeholders of all descriptions, 
e< the nobility and gentry seised of estates, (though a vast 
" majority of them were Protestants,) yet vyeing with each 
" other in electioneering interest, and the representation in 
c< Parliament depending on popular elections, began to convert 
<e the chattel interests of their peasantry (Roman Catholic as 
" as well as Protestant) into freehold. Since that period the 
te manufacture of freeholders has thriven in so great a degree, 
" that some counties, which previously did not contain more 
te than eleven hundred freeholders, have now more than eleven 
" thousand. The process of the manufacture is as follows : 
<( the nobleman or gentleman seised of an estate, demises it in 
" parcels to farmers for one life, or more ; the farmer demises 
" one acre of his farm, or less, to each of his labourers for life. 
" The labourer erects a wretched habitation (in Ireland called a 
<c cabin) on it, in which he and his poor family reside. This 
" holding he registers as hisfreehold, and swears it to be worth 
" forty shillings a year over and above the rent he is bound to 
" pay for it. This rent he is obliged to satisfy by working as a 
" labourer for his lessor, Such is the general description of 
" forty shilling freeholders in Ireland. Of this class the great 
" majority are Roman Catholics ; and such freeholders exceed 
<e all other freeholders in the proportion of Jive to one, or in a 
" greater proportion. Thus the Roman Catholics have now the 



IRISH FORTY SHILLING FREEHOLDERS. 225 



" return of the majority of the Irish representation in their 
" power. 

" By the grant of the elective franchise to Irish Romanists, 
" and by the reforming spirit of the Union, the greater part of 
" the Irish representation has been transferred from the opulent 
" to the indigent — from those who are attached to the British 
'* Constitution by religious principle, to those whose religious 
" principles are opposed to its letter and its spirit : and (con- 
" sidering the overruling power of their religious system 
" amongst the Irish Romanists) the return of the majority 

" OF THE REPRESENTATION IS NOW IN THE ROMISH HIERARCHY 

u and Clergy." 

Such is the present state of the law of elec- 
tion in Ireland. 

The legislative measure on which Dr. Doyle's 
opinion was (as has been seen) asked and 
refused, did not go to disfranchise the real bona 
fide holder of a freehold in fee, but only to sup- 
press this manufacture of fraudulent votes; and 
it had received the approbation of Dr. Doyle's 
political friends and associates; one cause pro- 
bably of his reluctance to avow before the 
Committee his own recorded opinion against it. 

But that opinion itself was given after a state- 
ment of the most extraordinary kind; I will 
present it to my readers in Dr. Doyle's own 
words. 

" Many of our laws are, in the abstract, perfectly wise and 
" equitable, but amongst us even the good laws in their opera- 
" tion work injustice." " The law of election, what does it 

Q 



226 



DR. DOYLE 



" bring to the Catholic? If he perchance be opulent, it brings 
" to him a deeper sense of his fallen honour, of his degradation, 
" of his shame • if he be very poor, it brings him to the hus- 
tings to proclaim to the world a public lie, to wit, that he is 
fi a freeholder : having first steeped his soul in perjury, lest he, 
" and his wife, and his child, and his father, should be driven 
''from their hut, without food, shelter, or hope. To him the 
" election law, in its operation, is like the wind from the desert, 
" bringing with it a sort of moral pestilence, against which no 
** human remedy can avail." — p. 87.* 

Dr. Doyle is a Christian, a minister of the 
Gospel, a bishop in the Church of Christ. 
What, then, must the man, who bears so 
high and sacred a function, say and feel of a 
proposed law, whose object is, without en- 
trenching on the rights of the real freeholder, 
to put an end at once to a system so pregnant 
with sin and crime ? Must he not hail it with 
delight and transport? Not so Dr. Doyle: — 
in the very same volume, we read, with 
astonishment, which all that we have before 
seen and heard of this prelate can hardly dimi- 
nish, the following portentous sentence ; " If 
" there be one measure more than another calcu- 
" latedto seal the doom of Ireland, to eradicate from 
" her soil the very seeds of freedom, and to ensure 

* He elsewhere speaks of the same law as "sometimes exposing 
the people to the moral necessity of committing perjury in order 
" to retain possession of what they call their freehold." — p. 359. 



ON THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 227 



"for ever her degradation, that measure is, in my 
" opinion, the disfranchisement of the forty shil- 
" ling freeholders^ — (p. 205.) Well might Dr. 
Doyle deprecate the necessity of repeating or 
avowing before an assembly of English Chris- 
tians such an opinion on such a case ! 

But I am tired of Dr. Doyle — I will refer 
to only one particular more of him, and will 
then have done.* 

5. He is asked by the Committees both of 
Commons and of Lords, " whether he holds the 

* Yet the following is too curious to be omitted : in answer 
to a question from the Committee of Commons, p. 21G, Dr. 
Doyle says, " I have never discerned in any class, or in any indi- 
" vidual, of the Catholic religion, cither clergy or laity x I might 
" say, any disposition hostile to the Protestant established religion."' 
For an illustration of the truth of this assertion, I refer to the 
Letters of I. K. L. passim, and to the following extract from 
Dr. Doyle's Letter to Mr. Robertson, p. 3 : " The Ministers of 
" the Establishment, as it exists at present, are, and will be, 
" detested by those who differ from them ; and the more their 
" residence is enforced, and their number multiplied, the more 
" odious they will become." 

Dr. Doyle is not the only person who makes a favourable 
report to the House of Commons of the disposition of the 
people of his communion towards the Established Church. In 
the year 1821 Mr. Plunket (a name to which I certainly would 
not do the injustice of coupling it with Dr. Doyle's generally) 
said, and said, I doubt not, as he believed : " On the part of 
" tfte Roman Catholics I will be bold to say, that they harbour no 
" principle of hostility to our Establishment 

^ 2 



228 



DR, DOYLE 



" opinions with respect to the Established 
" Church, which are maintained in the letters of 
" I. K. L." his own notorious work ? His an- 
swer I will take, as it is given before the Lords, 
because he there spoke under the solemn sanc- 
tion of an oath. 

" The opinions which I entertain with regard to the Esta- 
i( blishment are these 5 and as the letters alluded to are many, 
" and they may contain opinions which might be misunder- 
te stood, I think it better to make myself responsible for the an- 
tf swer I here give, than for what is found written in those 
tc letters. The Established Church in Ireland I look at in two 
" lights : as a Christian community, and as a corporation en- 
ec joying vast temporal possessions. As a Christian Church, 
" consisting of a hierarchy, and professing the doctrine of the 
tc Gospel, / respect and esteem it more than any other church in 
" the universe separated from the See of Rome : but I do un- 
" questionably think, that the amount of property enjoyed by 
<f the ministers of that Church is prejudicial to the interests of 
" the established religion in Ireland, as well as to the interests 
" of the country. I have, therefore, given to your Lordships my 
" feelings and opinions in those words most explicitly ; and I be- 
" lieve that they are the same in substance as those expressed in 
u the letters alluded to, if those letters be understood in the 
e( sense, in which I understand them myself." — Lords, p. 234. 

Here, then, he declares upon his oath, that, 
although he thinks the Church of Ireland too 
richly endowed for its own interests, and for 
the interests of the country, yet he has a 
higher respect, and esteem, for it, as a Chris- 



ON THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH. 



229 



tian Church, than for any other church in the 
universe separated from the See of Rome. 

This he gives, I say, upon his oath, as a sum- 
mary of his own feelings and opinions most 
explicitly stated, and of those which are express- 
ed in the letters of I. K.L. 

I shall now beg leave to make some extracts 
from these letters, to illustrate the accuracy of 
this sworn testimony. 

Once, and I believe, only once, he is pleased 
to admit that the Church is better than the 
Conventicle, and he does so in the following 
flattering expression of his " respect and es- 
teem for it :" — 

" The Establishment has brought back from the Conventicle 
" many a strayed sheep. This should be, to every person who 
te wishes well to society, a subject of congratulation, as it is 
" painful and humiliating to see our fellow-creatures so bewil- 
tf dered, as to exchange any regular form of worship, however 
" imperfect, for the ravings of their own fancy, or the wild and 
" fantastical canting of some self-sanctioned enthusiast." — p. 
67. 

While, however, he thus expresses his sense 
of the superiority of the Church over wild en- 
thusiasts, he takes care not to give it any pre- 
ference over Presbyterians. So far from it, in- 
deed, that he nowhere speaks so respectfully of 
the former, as he does, in the following sentence, 
of the latter : — 



230 



DR. DOYLE S 



" Of the state of religion amongst the Presbyterians I know 
tf but little, and I regret that I have not had more opportunities 
" of making myself acquainted with the principles and practice 
" of that respectable people, as well as with the character of 
" their clergy/' (p. 66.) 

We have seen I. K. L.'s strongest expressions 
of respect for the Established Church ; let us 
now look to the other side. At page 61 he ex- 
pressly says, that " the Catholics deem the 
<f altar of that Church profane." At page 329, 
its clergy are spoken of, as not being really 
clergy — they are " Clergymen (so called, J" At 
page 69 we read what follows : — 

" The Church in Ireland was always looked on, not as the 
" Spouse of the Redeemer, but as the handmaid of the ascen- 
" dancy." " Whenever she became insolent, or forgot her 
<e rank, (if rank it could be called) she was rebuked into a de- 
" portment becoming her situation." e< When indulged, she is 
"insolent; when rebuked, she becomes attentive; she draws 
ie tight, or relaxes her discipline, as it may please, or be per- 
" mitted by her masters ; her eye is ever fixed upon her own 
<l interests, and she deems nothing forbidden or unhallowed, which 
" can serve to promote them. As those who do an injury never 
" can forgive, she is implacable in her hostility to the Church 
" which she supplanted ; and at this day she appears indifferent 
" to all things else, but to the concealment of her riches, and the 
" persecution of Popery?' (He has elsewhere said, " theEsta- 
" blished Church would ally itself with the priests of Baal,* 

* This is comparatively a more respectable alliance, tlian may at first 
appear. I. K. L. says of the Irish Roman-Catholics (as we have already 
seen) that if the Legislature continues to insult them, they will league with 
Beekefiiib against us. (p. 285.) 



f 



GROSS INCONSISTENCIES. 231 

" against those whom it has supplanted.'*— p. 153.) " She 
" occasionally revolts against her fellovwservants," (who are 
they ?) ie who lay bare her spoils, who tell of her frauds and 
** oppressions, who remind her of her origin, and upbraid her 
" with the profligacy of her misspent life " " Her Creed is no 
" longer the creed of a great proportion of those xoho fill her 
" pulpits, or who bend before her altars.'" (p. 68.) " On the 
" whole it appears to me, that religion at present in the Established 
" Church is rather excited by the spirit of party, than the Spirit 
" of the Gospel; that she has been awakened rather by the 
" sounds of discord, than by the voice of peace." (p. 79.) 

It is thus, that the Letters of I. K. L. make 
good the sworn attestation of our Right Reverend 
witness. Yet this is Dr. Doyle ! this is, or lately 
was, (for these glories are not often very long- 
lived,) the idol of the liberal party in our Eng- 
lish House of Commons! one, whom statesmen 
have not scrupled to laud in good set sentences, 
as a paragon of talent, and the very mirror of 
honesty! 

In exhibiting him in his real colours, in hold- 
ing him forth in his own recorded words and 
sentiments, to the indignation of every man to 
whom truth and plain dealing are not empty 
names, I have performed a duty painful and 
disgusting to my own feelings; a duty, by the 
discharge of which I may perhaps draw down 
upon myself the ribaldry of Scotch critics, the 
revilings of Irish orators, the sneers of English 



232 



liberals, and the half- vented rebukes of the 
friends of conciliation. Be it so ! from all these 
censors I appeal to the unbiassed judgment and 
honest sympathy of the British people : and if 
my cause be as good, as my own conscience 
tells me that it is, to that tribunal I shall not 
appeal in vain. 



Henry Phillpotts. 



L O N D O N : 
PRINTED BY C. BOWORTHj BELL YAKD, 
TEMPLE BAR. 



DR. PHILLPOTTS'S 

LETTER 

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

GEORGE CANNING. 



FOURTH EDITION. 



London: Printed by C. Rowortli, 
Bell-yard , Temple-bar. 



A 

LETTER 

TO 

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

GEORGE CANNING, 

ON 

THE BILL OF 1825, 

FOR 

REMOVING THE DISQUALIFICATIONS OF HIS MAJESTY'S 
ROMAN CATHOLIC SUBJECTS, 

AND ON 

HIS SPEECH IN SUPPORT OF THE SAME. 



REV. HENRY PHILLPOTTS, D.D. 

RECTOR OF STANHOPE. 



FOURTH EDITION. 



LONDON: 
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 

MDCCCXXVII. 



TO 



THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 

GEORGE CANNING. 



Sir, 

It is with unfeigned reluctance that I 
thus publicly address you on the most import- 
ant question which can engage the attention 
either of Parliament or the country. When I 
was first induced to enter into this discussion, 
my sole object was to vindicate certain doc- 
trines of our Reformed Church from the gross 
misconceptions and misrepresentations to 
which they had been subjected : but I soon 
found the theological part of the argument to 
be so closely interwoven with the political, that 
it was hardly possible to keep them separate. 
You, Sir, appear to have experienced the same 
difficulty ; and if a Statesman, in the discussion 
of the political question, has found himself en- 
tangled in the mazes of polemics, it is not to be 
wondered, that a Churchman, in treating the 

B 



2 



SECURITIES. 



same matter, has been compelled to extend his 
inquiries into the region of politics. This con- 
sideration alone, will, I am confident, make'all 
apology for my present address to you unneces- 
sary ; and I will not trespass on your patience 
by affecting to offer any. Let me only say, 
that if in the free examination of opinions pub- 
licly proclaimed by you, I shall at all depart 
from the respect which is due to your high 
station, to your splendid talents, and above all, 
to your distinguished character, you will find 
it much easier to forgive me, than I shall be 
willing to forgive myself. 

The note of hostile preparation, which has 
been loudly sounded by the Roman Catholics 
of Ireland, announces to us an early renewal of 
their claims to a full participation in all the 
powers of the state. What particular course, 
in the furtherance of their object, will be 
adopted by their advocates, and especially by 
yourself, it is not easy to foresee ; but in the 
absence of other information, we may reason- 
ably look back to the last occasion of discussing 
the question, to the Bill which was then passed 
by the House of Commons, and to the language 
and arguments, with which you, Sir, by far the 
most powerful champion of their cause, thought 
fit to support it. That greater securities for our 



MR. PITT. 



3 



established institutions will now be offered, past 
experience forbids us to expect. Hitherto, every 
new application to Parliament has been marked 
by some important diminution of the securities 
before proposed. Like the Sibyl's fatal vo- 
lumes, the price, which we are required to pay 
for them, continues still the same ; while they 
themselves are so deplorably reduced, as 
scarcely to retain a faint semblance of what 
we were once told was indispensable to our 
safety. Still, as in the Sibyl's case, there are 
not wanting those, who earnestly conjure us to 
purchase, at any cost, even the miserable rem- 
nant, which may yet be had. 

Sir, there is something so very peculiar in 
the history of these Securities, and it has so 
obvious and essential a connection with the sub- 
ject of this letter, that I must request your in- 
dulgence while I trespass on you with a review 
of some of its most important particulars. 

It is well known, that so long ago as 1799, 
Mr. Pitt entertained, and acted upon, the hope, 
that means might be devised to combine the 
extension of equal political rights to the Roman 
Catholics, with due precautions for the security 
of our Protestant Church and government. 
What was his intended plan, was never publicly 
announced by him ; perhaps it was never com- 

b 2 



4 



SECURITIES. 



pletely formed. But in the last speech, which 
he delivered in Parliament on this subject, he 
thus expressed himself. 

" I have never been one of those who have 
" held, that the term ' Emancipation' is, in the 
" smallest degree, applicable to the repeal of 
" the few remaining penal statutes, to which 
" the (Roman) Catholics are still liable. But, 
1( possibly, in my view of the grounds of expe- 
" diency, I may think it to be much more con- 
" tradistinguished from the question of right, 
" than the honourable gentleman (Mr. Fox) 
" does. He seems to consider, that there is 
" only a shade of difference between the ex- 
" pediency and the right : whereas in my view 
" of the difference, it is broad, evident, and 
" fundamental. I consider right as independ- 
" ent of circumstances, and paramount to them, 
" whilst expediency is connected with circum- 
" stances, and, in a great measure, dependent 
" upon them. With regard to the admission 
" of (Roman) Catholics to franchises, to the 
" elective franchise, or to any of those posts 
61 and offices, which have been alluded to, I 
" view all these points as distinctions to be 
" given, not for the sake of the person and the 
" individual who is to possess them, but for 
" the sake of the public, for whose benefit they 



MR. PITT. 



5 



" were created, and for whose advantage they 
" are to be exercised. In all times, therefore, 
" and upon every occasion, whether relating 
" to the Roman Catholic or the Protestant dis- 
" senter, to the people of Ireland or to the 
" people of England, I have always, from a 
' ' due regard to the constitution, been of opi- 
" nion, that we are bound to consider, not 
" merely what is desired by a part, but what 
" is best and most advantageous to the whole." 

Sir, I have quoted thus much, to show the 
principle which guided and restricted that 
great man in all that lie did and said on this 
important subject. Would to heaven, that all 
who call and believe themselves his disciples, 
were guided by the same principle! If they 
were, we should not have to lament, that the 
language, which I shall cite hereafter, has ever 
issued from one of his school: much less, that 
you, Sir, so worthy in many respects to suc- 
ceed and represent your great master, should 
be still found amongst the adherents of a Cause, 
which has formally and solemnly rejected, not 
only the authority, but also the principles, of 
Mr. Pitt.* 

" My idea," he continued, " was, not to 

* " The British Catholic Association" passed a resolution to 
this effect in the course of* last summer. 



SECURITIES. 



' apply tests to the religious tenets of the 
' (Roman) Catholics, but tests applicable to 
■ what was the source and foundation of the 
' evil; to render the priests, instead of making 
• them the instruments of poisoning the minds 
£ of the people, dependent, in some sort, upon 
' the government, and thus links, as it were, 
' between the government and the people. 
' That would have been a wise and comprehensive 
'system; that would have been the system, 
£ which I should have felt it to be my wish, 
' and thought it to have been my duty, to have 
' proposed. I never thought, that it would 
' have been wise or prudent, to have thrown 
' down rudely or abruptly the guards and 
" fences of the constitution; but I did think, 
" that if the system I have alluded to had been 
" deemed proper to be adopted, it ought to 
" have been accompanied with those checks and 
" guards, - and with every regulation that could 
" have given additional inspect and influence to the 
" established Church, to the support and protection 
" of the Protestant interests, and to the encou- 
" ragement of every measure which could tend 
" to propagate, and spread the example of, the 
" Protestant religion" 

These, Sir, were the general views and in- 
tentions of Mr. Pitt on this subject; views and 



LORD GRENVILLE. 



7 



intentions, from which, to his great and (1 am 
sorry to add) his almost singular honour, he was 
never known to swerve. 

On an earlier day of the same sessions, in 
which Mr. Pitt thus addressed the lower House, 
Lord Grenville had moved that the House of 
Lords " should resolve itself into a committee 
" of the whole house, to take the petition of the 
" Roman Catholics of Ireland into consider- 
" ation." In doing this, " I ask of you," said 
he, " no immediate or specific grant, because I 
" am not prepared to say, what other measures, 
" healing and salutary, ought to accompany the 
" adoption of my motion. Many there are, 
" but this is not the fit occasion for stating 
" them." 

But, at a subsequent period, May 27, 1808, 
that noble Lord, having declared that M the 
" removal of every remaining civil disability, 
" on account of religious belief, must be a part 
" only of a large and comprehensive system," 
proceeded thus, — " It was so considered by 
" that great statesman, now no more, of whom 
" I never think but with the warmest affection, 
" respect, and admiration. Our opinions on 
" this subject were not only in complete unison, 
" but I may truly say they were formed toge- 
" ther by mutual communication and unre- 



8 



SECURITIES. 



" served confidence. The plans, which were 
" then in contemplation, included, in the first 
" place, measures of considerable benefit to the 
" established Church; calculated to promote 
" both its honour and its advantages, and to 
" render it far more adequate, than it now can 
" be, to the purposes for which it was pro- 
" vided. A short statement will convince your 
" Lordships, what ample occasion this matter 
" alone affords for the exercise of your wisdom 
" and liberality. — It appears that 2,400 pa- 
" rishes in Ireland are now consolidated into 
" little more than 1,100 benefices; of which 
" reduced number more than a tenth part are 
" absolutely without churches, and not 400 
" have glebe houses. Surely your Lordships 
" must see, in such a state of things, better 
" means of assisting the established Church, 
" more satisfactory measures to be taken for 
" the encouragement of the Protestant religion, 
" than by any laws of exclusion or intole- 
" ranee. 

" Nor had the situation of the dissenters, by 
" far the most numerous Protestants in that 
" country, been overlooked. Measures were 
" in contemplation for increasing the provision, 
<6 which the wisdom of government had long 
" since granted to their ministers. 



MR. PITT S PLAN. 



9 



" The state of the (Roman) Catholic Church in 
" Ireland, administering to the spiritual wants 
" of four millions of your people, had also been 
" an object of deliberate consideration. Much 
" has been said of the influence of their bishops, 
" and great stress has been laid on the dangers 
" of a (Roman) Catholic hierarchy. If you 
" tolerate the Roman Catholic Church, which 
" is episcopal, you must of course allow it to 
" have its bishops. But, it is unquestionably 
"proper that the Crown should exercise an effec- 
" tual negative over the appointment of the per- 
" sons called to execute those functions. To 
" this the (Roman) Catholics of Ireland declare 
" themselves perfectly ready to accede. Their de- 
" claration on this subject is an unquestionable 
" proof of their solicitude to meet the kindness of 
" their fellow- subjects, and to accede to any practi- 
" cable means of removing even the most groundless 
"jealousies. As such, I rejoice that it has been 
" made, and / see with infinite satisfaction the 
"just impression which it has universally pro- 
" duced. To me it is not new. / always felt 
" the propriety of providing for this point. It 
" formed a part of the plans to be brought for- 
" ward at the period of the Union; and what 
" we then knew of the sentiments of the 
" (Roman) Catholics respecting it, left no 



10 



SECURITIES. 



" doubt upon our minds, that the matter might 
" be easily and satisfactorily adjusted. Pro- 
" vision was also intended to be made, for the 
" decent and necessary subsistence of the 
" (Roman) Catholic clergy of that country. 
" The propriety of this step rests on grounds 
" of policy and reason, which will not be 
" questioned. On this point, I believe, all are 
" agreed. I mention it only as one of the many 
" measures, which call for inquiry and adoption. 

" Many of the most plausible arguments 
" against the petitions of the (Roman) Catho- 
" lies, are drawn from the objections to the 
" Oath of Supremacy. We are often told, that 
" (Roman Catholics refuse to acknowledge the 
" same obedience to their sovereign, which he 
" receives from all his other subjects. The 
" charge is wholly groundless. They recog- 
" nize, as you do, in the civil government of 
" their country, all temporal power and autho- 
" rity. If more security be necessary, let it he 
" exacted. It was intended, at the period to 
" which I have so often referred, to submit to 
" parliament, in lieu of the Oath of Supremacy, 
" framed, as we all know, for the purpose of 
i( exclusion, a new form of oath, calculated to 
" unite, not to divide the people. That oath 
" would have contained an explicit pledge of 



LORD GRENVILLE. 



11 



" support to the established constitution, and the 
" most express disclaimer that could he devised of 
" any interference with his majesty 's legitimate 
" and undoubted authority. Whatever words 
" may be most effectual for this purpose, let 
" them be adopted ; provide the fullest security 
" that jealousy itself can dictate, for that which we 
" are all equally anxious to defend: and let it then 
" be seen, whether the (Roman) Catholics of 
" Ireland are reluctant to concur in that de- 
" claration. 

" There is yet another subject, — I mean the 
" matter of Tithes. It was carefully considered 
" at the period of the Union, and was intended 
" then to be brought forward, &c. 

" I have thus enumerated, however imper- 
" fectly, the various measures with which the 
" great statesman, of whom I have spoken, 
" always meant to accompany the proposal of 
" the repeal of every civil disqualification, 
" which still attaches upon religious belief. 
" Great and important safeguards they were, 
'1 in my judgment, for the civil and ecclesiasti- 
" cal constitution of the realm, &c. / know of 
61 no other means adequate to such purposes.'" 

Thus, Sir, was Mr. Pitt's scheme of securities 
announced to the world by that nobleman, 
who, above all others, had enjoyed his confi- 



12 



SECURITIES. 



dence, and participated in his labours. It was 
commended to the favour of the country at 
large, by being accompanied by the authorita- 
tive offer, as it was at the time understood, on 
the part of the Roman Catholic bishops, of 
granting to the crown that effectual negative in 
the appointment of their future brethren, which 
formed one of its most important particulars. 
I need not remind you, Sir, that a very strong 
sensation in favour of the Roman Catholics 
was almost universally excited by such an in- 
dication of their supposed spirit of conciliation 
and good-will : — as little is it necessary that I 
should state, how short-lived was this feeling, 
how just, and strong, and durable, a reaction 
was created in the minds of almost every Pro- 
testant, when it was found, not only that the 
Irish Roman Catholic Hierachy disclaimed the 
declaration of their. agent, but also that he him- 
self, a Vicar Apostolic, the most distinguished 
divine, nay, the most prominent individual of 
his communion in England, not only retracted 
all that he had himself said or written in favour 
of the measure, but also declared before the 
world, that " he would rather lose the last drop 
" of his blood, than be instrumental to a Non- 
" Catholic king obtaining any poive?* or influence 
e( over any part of his church." 



LORD GRENVILLE — MR. CANNING. 13 

Such a practical specimen of the mode of 
H keeping faith with Heretics/' even in these 
days, seems, among its other effects, to have 
decided the tone and spirit of Lord Grenville's 
celebrated letter to Lord Fingal, Jan. 22, 1810. 
In it he thought it necessary to remind his 
lordship, that "with the extension of civil 
" rights to Roman Catholics must be combined, 
" if tranquillity and union be the object, other ex- 
" tensive and complicated arrangements ; that all 
"due provision must be made for the inviolable 
" maintenance of the religious and civil establish- 
" ments of this United Kingdom; that a rea- 
" diness to accede to such arrangements would 
" be the surest indication of those dispositions, 
" on the part of the Roman Catholics, without 
" which all concession must be nugatory, and all 
" conciliation hopeless." 

The same cause avowedly influenced your 
own language, when, on May 25, 1810, you, 
for the first time, thought fit to declare your 
sentiments on the general question in the House 
of Commons. "No security, or engagement," 
you complain, "is offered on the part of the 
" (Roman) Catholics. Their very advocates 
" are obliged to come forward with censure 
" against them, for withdrawing that security, 
" which, on a former occasion, was proposed to 



14 



SECURITIES. 



' ' Parliament in their name. The right honour- 
" able gentleman, (Mr. Grattan,) who brought 
" forward the motion, has indeed thought it 
" expedient now to undervalue that former 
" proposed security — for my own part, I think 
" that nothing less than the Veto should be accepted 
" by the government. That some such condition is 
" absolutely necessary, no man will doubt, who 
" thinks, as I do, that of any adjustment be- 
" tween the (Roman) Catholics and Protes- 
" tants, mutual concession and mutual conciliation 
" must be the basis ; that such an adjustment, 
" in order to produce any of the fruits of tran- 
" quillity, happiness, and prosperity, which are 
" expected from it, must not be a victory to one 
66 party or the other : — must not be considered 
" by one side as a successful struggle, nor as a 
" forced concession to a rival by the other." 

Similar language was, at that time, held by 
every sober and enlightened advocate of the 
same cause. The English Roman Catholics 
themselves, in their petition to Parliament in 
1810, distinctly declared, that "any arrange-- 
" ments for the maintenance of the civil and 
i( religious establishments of this kingdom, 
" founded on the basis of mutual satisfaction 

and security, and extending to them the full 
" enjoyment of the civil constitution of their 



EARL GREY. 



15 



" country, would meet with their grateful con- 
" currence :" and the distinguished Nobleman, 
whom they selected to present this petition to 
the House of Lords, was pleased, in presenting 
it, (Feb. 22, 1810,) to give for himself, the fol- 
lowing important pledge : " That it was only 
" on the principle of mutual satisfaction and se- 
" curity, as stated in the petition, that the mea- 
sure would have his support." " I beg your 
" Lordships," said he, in a speech printed and 
circulated by the Roman Catholics, and stated 
to have been revised by himself, " I beg your 
" Lordships to be assured, that / never shall 
" urge you to grant the relief which is inquired, 
" without having a due regard to your own secu- 
" rities ; that I shall never urge you to take up 
" this subject, but on a comprehensive and ge- 
" neral view of all the interests connected with 
" it. I am sensible, that in looking at the 
" claims of the (Roman) Catholics, we ought 
" also to look at those securities which may be de- 
" manded for our own religious establishments; 
" that we ought to strengthen and confirm, and 
" consolidate them." 

The same noble Earl, on the 6th of June fol- 
lowing, speaking in his place in Parliament, of 
Lord Grenville's Letter to the Earl of Fingal, 
avowed that "he had been consulted upon it, 



10 



SECURITIES. 



" and he had no hesitation in saying, that there 
" was not a word, there was not a sentiment, 
" there was not a principle contained in it, 
" which had not his unqualified concurrence." 
He even complained of the unfairness of ascrib- 
ing to the friends of the (Roman) Catholics, 
a wish to grant to them all that they asked, 
without requiring such a modification, as might 
be deemed necessary for the safety of the 
established religion; this modification had been 
looked upon as the best, which gave to the 
Crown " a negative power to controul the appoint- 
" ment of the Roman Catholic Bishops." He 
went further; he gave to the same principle 
the authority of his late illustrious friend. " Mr. 
" Fox," said he, " was uniformly a warm friend 
" to the (Roman) Catholic claims ; but always 
" on the principle of the grant of all those condi- 
" tions, on the part of the Roman Catholics, 
" which might be deemed necessary to the 
" safety of the constitution." 

This, Sir, was the epoch of the most secure 
and honoured state of our Protestant establish- 
ments, since the time when they were first 
assailed by the claims of the Roman Catholics. 
No statesman, on either side of either House 
of Parliament, ventured then to recommend 
the unqualified concession of those claims ; or 



MR. CANNING. 



17 



the concession of them at all, without requiring 
real, effectual, and adequate securities. But 
from this our high and palmy state, the hopes 
of the Protestants were soon doomed rapidly to 
decline. The advocates of concession, though 
still loud and ardent in their professions of a 
wish for mutual satisfaction and security, began 
to adopt a looser phraseology; instead of pre- 
cise pledges, we now had from most of them, 
only vague unmeaning generalities; even the 
tone of just indignation against the treachery 
or waywardness of the Irish Roman Catholics 
themselves, began to give way before " candid 
allowances;" and we soon heard little else but 
lamentations over " the disappointment of a 
nation's hopes," with very small consideration 
of the causes to which that disappointment 
was mainly to be ascribed. In short, they were, 
but too apparently, preparing to slide into a 
totally different line of sentiment and conduct. 
Still, the beginning of this most inauspicious 
change was not wholly unaccompanied by 
cheering and consolatory circumstances. In 
particular, Sir, we were gratified by hearing 
from yourself, the following wise and dignified 
counsel addressed to the House of Commons, 
on the 24th of April, 1812. " Whenever the 



c 



18 



SECURITIES. 



" legislature shall make up their minds to en- 
" tertain the question of Catholic concession 
" seriously, it will be for them to couple the 
" boon with such restrictions and qualifications, 
" and to accompany it with such provisions, as 
" they think necessary for our own security. 
" Enact what you think right: and then leave 
" to the Catholics to accept or refuse what they 
" offer on the conditions which you annex to it. 
" If they accept, (which they will,) the work is 
" done. If otherwise, you have the consolation 
* f to reflect that you have done your duty by 
" them. Whatever may be the result, you will 
" have nothing to reproach to yourselves. Go 
" as far as you can with safety to the establish- 
" ments. Do not exact from them terms that 
" are unnecessary; but be rigorous in imposing 
" such conditions as shall free you from all real, 
" I had almost said, all imaginary danger." 

In the following year, an opportunity was 
afforded to you, of embodying the various pro- 
visions, by which this great object was to be 
obtained. 

Let us see what these provisions were. Mr. 
Grattan, it will be remembered, had introduced 
a Bill into Parliament, to remove the several 
" Disqualifications under which his Majesty's 



BILL OF 1813. 



19 



" Roman Catholic Subjects now labour," with 
certain provisoes; of which the following is, 
I trust, a correct statement. 

1st. It gives the power of sitting in Parlia- 
ment, and of holding all civil and military offices, 
(except two, viz. that of Lord Chancellor, &c. 
of Great Britain, or of Lord Lieutenant, &c. of 
Ireland,) and of being admitted into, and hold- 
ing office in, all Lay Corporations, except the 
Universities, and colleges and schools of royal 
or ecclesiastical foundation, on the taking of an 
oath, compounded of and including all the ma- 
terial clauses of the oaths now prescribed to be 
taken by Roman Catholics, by the English Act 
of 1791, or the Irish Act of 1793, with this im- 
portant addition — " And I do solemnly swear, 
" that I will not use any privilege, power, or 
" influence, which I do now, or may hereafter, 
" possess, to overthrow or disturb the present 
" Church Establishments of the United Kingdom; 
" and that I never will, by any conspiracy, con- 
" trivance, or device whatsoever, abet others 
" in any attempt to overthrow or disturb the 
" same; and that I will make known to his 
" Majesty, his heirs and successors, all at- 
" tempts, plots, or conspiracies, whether at 
" home or abroad, which shall come to my 

c 2 



20 



SECURITIES. 



" knowledge, for effecting either of these pur- 
" poses."* 

There is also an exception of all ecclesiastical 
benefices or offices, of the power of presenting 
to the same, and even of advising the Crown in 
the presentation thereto, under the penalty of 
being disabled from holding any office under 
the Crown. 

2d. It proposes to enact, that every Roman 
Catholic Clergyman shall take the following 
oath: — " I, A. B. do swear, that I will never 
" concur in, or consent to, the appointment or 
" consecration of any Roman Catholic Bishop, 
" or Vicar Apostolic, in the United Kingdom, 
" but such as I shall conscientiously deem to 
" be of unimpeachable loyalty and peaceable 
" conduct: and I do swear, that I have not and 
" will not have any correspondence or commu- 
" nication with the Pope, or See of Rome, 
" or with any court or tribunal established, or 
et to be established, by the Pope or See of Rome, 
" or by the authority of the same, or with any 
" person, or persons, authorized or pretending 

* This was in lieu of the clause of the Irish oath of 1 793, 
" I will not exercise any privilege, to which I am, or may be- 
" come, entitled, to disturb and weaken the Protestant Religion 
(C and Protestant Government in this kingdom." 



BILL OF 1813 — MR. CANNINGS CLAUSES. 21 

" to be authorized by the Pope or See of Rome, 
" tending directly or indirectly to overthrow or 
" disturb the Protestant Government, or the 
** Protestant Church of Great Britain and Ire- 
" land, or the Church of Scotland, as by law 
" established ; and that I will not correspond 
" or communicate with the Pope or See of 
" Rome, &c. on any matter or thing not purely 
" spiritual or ecclesiastical." 

3d. There are provisions under heavy penal- 
ties, against any person born out of the United 
Kingdom, except of British Parents, or any 
Roman Catholic, who has not been aesident five 
years within the said kingdom, exercising epis- 
copal functions within the same. 

To these certainly not unimportant provisions 
of Mr. Grattan, the following (modified in part, 
after communication with Lord Castlereagh) 
were added by yourself. 

" In order to ascertain the loyalty and peace- 
" able conduct of Roman Catholic Priests, 
" elected or appointed to the exercise of epis- 
" copal functions, or to the functions of a dean, 
" within the United Kingdom ; and in order 
" that his Majesty may be fully informed of 
66 the nature and extent of any intercourse 
" between his subjects and a foreign power," 
two commissions were to be issued, one for 



22 



SECURITIES. 



Great Britain, and the other for Ireland ; the 
former to consist " of such Roman Catholics 
" exercising episcopal functions within Great 
" Britain, and such Lay Peers professing the 
" Roman Catholic Religion, and such Lay Com- 
ee moners of the same religious persuasion, (pos- 
" sessed of a thousand pounds a year in land, 
iC or £20,000 in personal property,) and such 
" Protestant Members of the Privy Council, 
" (whereof one of his Majesty s 'principal Secre- 
" taries of State shall be one,) as his Majesty 
" shall think fit." The commission for Ireland 
was to be similarly constituted, except that 
instead of a Secretary of State, the Secretary of 
the Lord Lieutenant was to be a member ; that 
five members were necessary to form a Board, 
one of whom was always to be the Secretary 
of State in Great Britain, (the Secretary to the 
Lord Lieutenant in Ireland,) or some other 
member of the Privy Council, being a Protes- 
tant: that one other member of the Board be an 
ecclesiastical Roman Catholic Commissioner; 
and one other a lay Roman Catholic commis- 
sioner. The president of the commission in 
Great Britain, to be the Secretary of State ; in 
Ireland, the Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, 
or, in the absence of either, the senior com- 
missioner. 



BILL OF 1813 — MR. CANNING S CLAUSES. 23 

. " I. — That from the passing of this Act, no 
" Roman Catholic (not at present exercising 
" episcopal functions) shall assume the exercise 
" of such functions, or the functions of a dean, 
" whose name shall not have been previously 
" notified to the President of the Board of 
" Commissioners, nor until he shall have received 
" the notification of his Majesty's approbation, or 
" that of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. That 
" the President of the Board, as soon as the 
" names shall have been notified to him, shall 
" forthwith lay the same before the same Board. 
" and that they shall, within six weeks, report 
" to his Majesty, or the Lord Lieutenant of 
" Ireland, their opinion of the loyalty and 
" peaceable conduct of the said persons : upon 
" which report the royal approbation or dis- 
" approbation shall be signified by instruments 
" expressly setting forth, that the same is given 
" upon the report, and with the advice of the 
" commissioners. Persons presuming to exer- 
" cise episcopal functions, or those of dean, 
" without such approbation so signified, to be 
" adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable 
" to be sent out of the kingdom" 

" II. — That persons receiving any Bulls, &c. 
" from the See of Rome, &c, shall send the 
" same to the President of the Board of Com- 



24 



SECURITIES. 



" missioners, who shall lay it before the Board. 
" The Board to inspect, and report to his 
"Majesty, — if innocent, the said Bull to be 
" returned to the party, with an indorsement 
" signed by the Secretary of State (or Secre- 
" tary to the Lord Lieutenant). Provided, that 
" if the instrument relate wholly and exclu- 
" sively to spiritual matters, and such as the 
" person shall conscientiously think that he 
" cannot submit it to lay-inspection, then he 
" shall make oath to that effect ; and in such 
" case the commissioners may allow the instru- 
" ment to be sent sealed to be inspected by the 
" senior ecclesiastical commissioner only, and, 
" on his report, the said instrument to be re- 
" turned indorsed by him only. Persons not 
" conforming to these regulations, in lieu of all 
" penalties by existing laws, to be deemed 
" guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to be 
" sent out of the kingdom." 

Such was your scheme of Securities in 1813, 
drawn up (as was understood, and said, at the 
time) with the advice and co-operation of no 
less distinguished a Roman Catholic, than Mr. 
Charles Butler,* of Lincoln's Inn : and no 

* Mr. Butler denies having concerted any clauses with Lord 
Castlereagh ; not so with Mr. Canning, as charged by Dr. 
Milner. He admits that after a consultation between Mr. 



MR. GRATTAN. 



25 



candid person can, I think, examine this pro- 
duction of your political sagacity, aided by his 
knowledge of the necessary discipline of his 
Church, without admitting, that it contained 
much to recommend it to adoption. In sub- 
mitting it to the consideration of Parliament, 
you spoke of it with just confidence and honest 
exultation. You boasted, that you had at 
length " arranged effectual securities, not only 
" for Protestant, but also for Catholic free- 
" dom." 

The measure, thus amply estimated by your 
self, received the amplest commendations of 
all the supporters in Parliament of the Roman 
Catholic cause, especially of Mr. Grattan and 
Mr. Plunket. The former declared (May 24th, 
1813) that " he thought the clauses, containing 
" the Securities for the Protestant Establish- 
u ment, perfectly necessary for the Bill, and 
* should vote for them as one and the same. 
" Notwithstanding the opposition of the Ca- 
" tholic clergy to those clauses, (which had 

Canning, Lord Castlereagh, &c. at Mr. Ponsonby's house, the 
draft of the clauses (as then corrected) was sent to him, to 
procure a fair transcription of them. This was made. — But 
he does not even intimate, that he showed the slightest disap- 
probation of the measure, of which he thus became an instru- 
ment. See Hist. Mem. iv. 253. 



26 



SECURITIES. 



" began to show itself on these points,) he must 
" say, that in doing so they were enemies to 
" themselves, and to the Catholic community, 
" and they must take upon themselves the con- 
" sequences." And Mr. Plunket, who was, I 
believe, for a time, intrusted by the Irish 
Roman Catholics with the guardianship of 
their interests in the lower House, after say- 
ing that " he had paid the greatest attention 
" to the clauses just proposed by the Right 
" Honourable Gentleman (yourself), and he 
" was happy to say, that the entire of the 
" clauses as they now stood had his most 
" cordial approbation. He was rejoiced to see, 
" that the Right Honourable Gentleman had 
" succeeded so well in the accomplishment of 
" the two great objects of the measure, security 
" to the principles and establishments of the 
" Protestant, and also to the free exercise of 
" the opinion of the Catholic, at the same time 
" that he was admitted to participate in the 
" benefits of the constitution. It was his opi- 
" nion, that those objects had been most clearly 
" and satisfactorily accomplished by the Bill in 
" its present state, — that such securities had 
" been proposed as ought to satisfy even the 
" most jealous of the Protestants, as well as 
" the most inimical amongst the Catholics." 



MR. CANNING. 



27 



After testimonies so flattering, with what 
feelings of self-gratulation must the author 
of this applauded measure have contemplated 
its glad and grateful acceptance by those for 
whose benefit it was designed ! But to do full 
justice to your feelings, and at the same time, 
to show the accuracy of your judgment re- 
specting the feelings of the Irish Roman Catho- 
lics, I will beg leave to avail myself of your 
own beautiful, however appropriate language. 

" To pause now — to retrograde now — to de- 
" scend from the pinnacle on which we are now 
" placed, and which commands a view of the 
" affection, the harmony, and the gratitude of our 
" Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, would be to 
" lose all the ground that we have gained. 
" That ground once lost will not be easily re- 
" covered. e There is a tide in the affairs of 
" ' men,' on the height of which ive are now 
" 7*iding towards the accomplishment of our object. 
" The hands of Protestant and Catholic are 
" outstretched to meet each other, and nearly 
" touching" 

" So having said, awhile he stood, expecting 
Their universal shout and high applause 
To fill his ear, — when contrary he hears 
On all sides, from innumerable tongues, 
A dismal universal hiss, the sound 
Of universal scorn." 



28 



SECURITIES. 



Alas ! Sir, such was the reception already 
given to your scheme in Ireland, at the very 
time when, within the walls of Parliament, you 
were anticipating the most triumphant result. 
But the history of this matter so forcibly illus- 
trates the views and tempers of the Irish "Roman 
Catholics, that I must beg leave to state it a 
little more at large. 

On the 26th of May, 1813, before they could 
have known that the fate of the Bill had been 
decided in the House of Commons, their Bishops 
held a general meeting, in which it was unani- 
mously resolved, 

" I. — That having seriously examined the 
" copy of a Bill now in progress through Par- 
" liament, we feel ourselves bound to declare, 
" that the ecclesiastical clauses, or Securities 
" therein contained, are utterly incompatible with 
" the discipline of the Roman Catholic, and 
" with the free exercise of our religion." 

" II. — That without incurring the heavy 
" guilt of schism, we cannot accede to such re- 
" gulations ; nor can we dissemble our dismay 
" and consternation at the consequences which 
" such regulations, if inforced, must necessarily 
" produce." 

In February, 1814, a Rescript was addressed 
to Dr. Poynter, Vicar Apostolic of the London 



QUARANTOTTI f S RESCRIPT. 



29 



district, by Monsignor Quarantotti,(since created 
a cardinal,) who was then invested with all the 
ecclesiastical and spiritual powers of the See 
of Rome, except the appointment of bishops. In 
this rescript, he most distinctly declared, that 
(( having taken the advice of the most learned 
" prelates and divines, and having examined 
" the letters from Dr. Poynter and from Dr. 
" Troy, (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dub- 
" lin,) and the matter having been maturely 
" discussed in a special congregation, it is 
" decreed, that the Catholics may, with satis- 
" faction and gratitude, accept and embrace the 
" Bill which was last year presented for their 
" emancipation."* 

* u With great pleasure we have learned, that a Bill for the 
" emancipation of the Catholics of your flourishing kingdom 
<f from penal laws, which was proposed last year, and lost by a 
" small minority, may probably be again presented in this 
" Session of Parliament." — " and since it has been represented, 
" that among the bishops certain questions and differences 
" have arisen, relative to the conditions on whicb the Catholics 
" are to be placed on an equality with their fellow subjects, 
<c we, who, in the absence of the supreme Pastor, are placed 
" over the concerns of the sacred missions, and for that pur- 
" pose are invested with full pontifical powers, have thought it 
" incumbent on us to remove every ambiguity and obstacle 
<e which might impede so desirable a conciliation." — " Having 
" therefore taken the advice of the most learned prelates and 
" divines, having examined the letters, which have been trans- 



30 



SECURITIES. 



So much for the alleged incompatibility of 
your securities with the discipline of the Ro- 
man Catholic Church, and with the free exer- 
cise of their religion. The highest authority in 
Rome pronounced the offer to merit not merely 
acceptance, but gratitude : nor can we seriously 
doubt, that if no ulterior objects had been in 
view, such would they have been deemed in 
Ireland. But this did not accord with the am- 
bitious projects of the Irish prelates ; accord- 
ingly, in order to defeat the conciliatory ten- 
dency of the rescript from Rome, recourse was 
had to a very different measure, a measure 
really incompatible with their own discipline, 
and in direct opposition to one of their own de- 
clared principles. They could not themselves 
fly in the face of the rescript from Rome. 
Therefore, the parish priests of the diocese of 
Dublin were induced to hold a meeting on the 
occasion, and to come to the following resolu- 
tions. 

" 1. That we consider the rescript of M. 

" mitted to us, both by your Lordship and the Archbishop of 
" Dublin : and the matter having been maturely discussed in 
" a special congregation, it is decreed, that the Catholics may, 
u with satisfaction and gratitude, accept and embrace the Bill 
" which was last year presented for their emancipation, in the 
<e form in which your Lordship has laid it before us.'' — Butler's 
Hist, vol. iv. App. p. 520. 



RESOLUTIONS OF DUBLIN R. C. CLERGY, 1813. 31 

" Quarantotti as not obligatory, particularly as 
" it wants those authenticate marks whereby 
" the mandates of the Holy See are known and 
" recognized; and especially the signature of 
" the Pope. 

" 2. That we consider the granting to an Anti- 
" Catholic government any power, direct or in- 
" direct, with regard to the appointment and 
" nomination of the Catholic Bishops in Ire- 
" land, to be at all times inexpedient. 

"3. That, circumstanced as we are in this 
" country, we consider the granting such a 
" power not only inexpedient, but highly detri- 
" mental to the best and dearest interests of 
" religion, and pregnant with incalculable mis- 
6 - chief to the cause of Catholicity in Ireland" 

Thus, were the inferior clergy put forward to 
give their condemnation of an authoritative de- 
cree from Rome, though these very prelates 
have themselves most solemnly declared, "that 
" it is the undoubted and exclusive right of Ro- 
cc man Catholic Bishops to discuss all matters 
" appertaining to the doctrines and discipline 
" of the Roman Catholic Church."* 

But the matter must not be thus dismissed. 
The terms in which the last resolution of the 

* Resolutions of Irish Roman Catholics Bishops assembled 
in Dublin, Feb. 24, 1810. 



32 



SECURITIES. 



Dublin clergy is expressed, are big with the 
most important meaning. " Circumstanced as 
<( we are in Ireland, we consider the granting 
" such a power highly detrimental to the best 
e( interests of religion." Why in Ireland more 
than in other countries ? Why, there, should 
they object to give to their sovereign a security, 
which every other government in Europe insists 
on possessing? Is it, that it is incompatible 
with the discipline of their Church ? That, as 
we have seen, could no longer be pretended. 
What, then, is the true reason ? The last words 
of the resolution explain the whole. It is "the 
Cause of Catholicity in Ireland ;" in plain 
English, it is the hope of seeing their Church 
exalted in triumph on the ruins of the Protestant 
Church, which instigates them to the barefaced 
disregard not only of the wishes of their par- 
liamentary friends, but also of the mandates 
from Rome and the practice of every state in 
Christendom. 

But even this was not all. The priests, from 
their altars, addressed their congregations 
against the papal rescript. They exhorted 
their flocks to be patient, to remain tranquil 
under so severe a visitation : but to be prepared, 
if necessary, to sacrifice their lives rather than sur- 
render the freedom of their Church to prelate 



IRISH ROMAN CATHOLIC PRELATES, 1813. 33 



or pope. The exhortations were heard with 
deep emotions of indignation ; and it was easy 
to see that the resistance will be universal.* 

I request you, Sir, to couple this intimation 
with the language of the Irish prelates in their 
resolution of May 27, 1813. — " Nor can we 
" dissemble our dismay and consternation at the 
" consequences which such regulations, (your 
" projected securities,) if inforced, must neces- 
" sarily produce," and then to say, on your own 
recorded principles, what was the course which 
it became yourself, and the other advocates of 
concession, to pursue? You could not blind 
yourselves to the glaring fact, that if Parlia- 
ment had passed your Bill into a law, (a Bill, 
according to your own statement of it, as full of 
liberal indulgence as was consistent with a de- 
cent regard to the safety of our Protestant in- 
stitutions,) instead of tranquillizing and con- 
ciliating Ireland, it would have been the signal 
for deeper and more rancorous hostility. Let 
it not be said, that it was the refusal of 
Parliament to pass this Bill, which excited so 
much violence ; on the contrary, that very re- 

* Dublin Evening Post, Tuesday, May 10, 1814, as cited in 
* Dangers with which Great Britain and Ireland are now me- 
" naced," a very valuable pamphlet, from which I have not 
scrupled to borrow much of the statement of this matter. 

D 



34 



SECURITIES*. 



fusal was caused in part by the early declared 
opposition of the Roman Catholics to its pro- 
visions. No, Sir, it was the dread that in ano- 
ther session the meagre majority which had 
defeated your attempt might no longer be able 
to prevail, — that concession would come to 
them burthened with conditions, which would 
make their ulterior objects less attainable: this 
it was which arrayed against you all the Roman 
Catholic population of Ireland. What then, I 
repeat, was the conduct, not only which you 
might have been expected to pursue, but which 
you had yourself, but a few short months be- 
fore, publicly prescribed to others ? You had 
<f coupled the proposed concession with such re- 
" strictions and qualifications as you had thought 
" necessary," and with such only : — " if the 
** Roman Catholics should refuse," (and they 
had declared in the strongest manner that they 
would refuse,) " you had done your duty by 
" them. You had gone as far as you could 
" with safety to the establishments. You had 
" not exacted from them terms that were un- 
" necessary;" it remained, therefore, if you had 
any regard for the pledge you had given, and 
for the consistency of your public character, 
that you should " be rigorous in insisting on 
" those conditions which you had imposed." — 



MR. CANNINGS PLEDGE. 



35 



Nay, this was not left to be deduced by infer- 
ence from your former language. In speaking 
in favour of this very Bill,* you expressly de- 
clared, that " if the boon proffered by Parlia- 
" ment should be contumaciously refused, you 
If were firmly determined to take your stand against 
" the Catholics, the same as if you had never 
" stood forward their advocate." 

How, Sir, did you redeem this pledge ? Let 
the history of the last fourteen years answer 
the question. I will not pursue the detail 
through all the miserable gradation of big pro- 
fessions and small performances, growing every 
year still smaller, till at last you brought your- 
self not only to give your support to that insult 
on the common sense of the country, the Bill of 
1825, but actually to declare, that in your 
judgment no better securities could be devised. 

It is true, unhappily too true, that your's has 
been very far from a solitary instance. All, or 
almost all, the distinguished men,| who set out 

* May 11, 1813. 

t I may be permitted to make an exception of one very dis- 
tinguished name, I mean the late Lord Londonderry. His 
language and conduct on this question, even to the hour of his 
death, were uniformly in favour of concession to the Roman Ca- 
tholics, but on the indispensable condition of real and effective 
securities. Mr. Canning bore the amplest testimony to the 
manly, yet conciliatory, tone, in which his Lordship stated his 

D 2 



30 



SECURITIES. 



with supporting the claims of the Roman Ca- 
tholics on the professed principle of requiring 
adequate securities for our Protestant establish- 
ments, have by degrees sidled off into the same 
devious track. One among them, whose wise 
and dignified language I have before been proud 
to cite, even that earliest advocate of their 
cause, who once required as the indispensable 
condition of his powerful support, that they 
should exhibit " those dispositions, without 
" which all concession must be nugatory, and 
<f all conciliation hopeless," — he who declared 
in a public letter, composed with all the deli- 
beration, and guarded with all the caution of 
the most rigid diplomacy, that " with the ex- 
" tension of civil rights to Roman Catholics 
" must be combined, if tranquillity and union be 
" the object, other extensive and complicated 
" arrangements, — that all due provision must 
" be made for the inviolable maintenance of the 
<f religious and civil establishments of this 

objections to Mr. C.'s clauses in the Bill of 1813, as* first pro- 
posed, and to his hearty and honourable co-operation in cor- 
recting them. Among the many reasons, which made his 
death a national misfortune, perhaps there is none more im- 
portant, than the loss of his sound practical good sense to 
restrain the extravagancies of the more incautious advocates of 
the Roman Catholic cause. 



LORD GRENVILLE AND OTHERS. 37 

" United Kingdom;" — even he was at length 
heard openly to abandon the demand of all se- 
curities whatsoever. 

He took this step, and was followed in it by 
others, even while the tone and temper of the 
Roman Catholics were daily becoming more 
violent, — their hostility to our establishments 
more undisguised, — their hopes of carrying 
their object by force more sanguine, — their 
threats more loud and daring, — their .whole 
conduct more and more glaringly evincing the 
blind and reckless fury of the most envenomed 
hatred. 

It should seem, that, in the judgment of some 
of our statesmen, a very peculiar principle of 
political calculation applies to this subject, by 
which the necessity of precaution is found to 
be in an inverse ratio to the magnitude of the 
danger. Not many years ago, a meek and 
imploring suitor was not to be admitted into 
the outer court of the temple, without first 
demanding from him ample securities for his 
good abearing; — but, now, every barrier may 
be safely broken down, — nay, every obstruc- 
tion and inconvenience must be carefully swept 
away, in order that the armed ruffian, with de- 
fiance on his front, and menace on his tongue, 



38 MR. o'connell's reason for 

may find a free and unencumbered passage to 
the very sanctuary of our laws and our religion. 

Still there is something respectable in this 
daring defiance of all the claims of consistency, 
this bold contradiction to former opinions, how- 
ever deliberately adopted, however repeatedly 
and solemnly recorded,* — when compared with 

* March 8th, 1810, Lord Grenville rose to present a peti- 
tion on behalf of the Roman Catholics of the county and city 
of Waterford. " His Lordship wished to take the present op- 
** portunity of restating his opinions upon this important subject, 
" Indeed, it could scarcely now be necessary for him to restate 
" them to their Lordships. He had for some time back adopted 
" the most public mode of declaring and disseminating them, 
" (by his letter to Lord Fingal,) and he had now only to say, 
" that whatever circumstances had since intervened, he not only 
e< had not altered those opinions, but that they had been strengthened 
tc and confirmed. He had maturely weighed those opinions. 
" They had not been lightly taken up. Much less had he since 
ee made any attempt to change their character and complexion, 
" with the view to square them to any new doctrine, or to suit 
ic them to any new purpose. In the sentiments he had invariably 
te expressed on this most important subject, he should most steadily 
" persevere." Since this declaration was made, the Pope has 
been released from the thraldom of Buonaparte ; but this 
single alteration of circumstances will not account for so com- 
plete a change of views and conduct in the Noble Lord, and 
in those who have followed in his train. It was not the dan- 
ger from foreign influence merely, which was the ground of 
his former opinions, — but the necessity of consulting for 



VIOLENT LANGUAGE. 



39 



the illusory and shifty course pursued by 
others ; by those who, affecting to be faithful to 
their ancient principles, have surrendered them 
all, one after another, at the dictation of men, 
who repay their subservience only with ill-dis- 
sembled ridicule. Mr. O'Connell was not long 
ago advised to follow moderate measures. I 
forget the exact words of his answer ; but, in 
substance, he told his adviser that it was by 
violence alone, that the Roman Catholics of 
Ireland have advanced their cause to its present 
prosperous state. " Remember," said he, 
" the conditions which were once required of 
" us even by our present friends, and contrast 
" with them the terms which we can now 
" command. Was it our peaceable demeanour, 
e< our decorous language, which placed us on 
" this vantage ground ? No ! it was the bold- 
" ness with which we asserted our claims, the 
" unflinching, uncompromising tone of all our 
" measures, that has enabled us thus to look 
" back with triumph, and forward with confi- 
" dence. If, indeed, any thing could have been 
" gained by following the course which you 

" mutual conciliation/' for " allaying jealousies," for " tran- 
" quillity and union," above all, for " the inviolable mainte- 
" nance of the religious and civil establishments of this United 
" Kingdom." 



40 



SECURITIES. 



" gentle counsellors recommend, we might have 
" been ready to play the pliant part, and listen 
" to the men to whom we now dictate." 

Sir, I remember an old common-room story, 
which seems so aptly to illustrate the course 
you have thought fit to pursue towards these 
Irish agitators, that I will crave your patience, 
while I tell it to you here. 

A celebrated wit, the best scholar of his day 
both at Eton and at Oxford, — a first-rate 
speaker, too, in Parliament, whose only fault 
was a little over-anxiety, in season and out of 
season, to get the laughers on his side,— 
happened one day, in driving along a narrow 
road, to meet a heavy loaded waggon. What 
was to be done ? he wished to be accommo- 
dating, but for both to proceed was impos- 
sible : asserting, therefore, the privilege of his 
aristocratic vehicle, he peremptorily ordered 
the farmer to get off the road. " Off the road ! 
" not for thee, nor any man in England ; — 
" and if thou dost not take that gimcrack of 
" thine out of my way directly, I'll do — what 
" I should be very sorry to be obliged to do." 
Our hero, though by no means deficient in 
manhood, yet wisely considering that no ho- 
nour could be gained in such an encounter, soon 
determined to take the discreeter part. There- 



MR. canning's retrocession. 41 



fore, settling the matter of dignity as he could, 
with the best grace possible, and with admirable 
management of his reins, he contrived to back 
out of the difficulty, and at length lodged him- 
self and his curricle on a piece of smooth turf, 
at a considerable distance in the rear. " And 
" now, my friend," said he, " since I have done 
" this purely for your accommodation, be so 
" good as to tell me what you meant by say- 
" ing, that if I did not get out of your way, 
" you'd do what you would be very sorry to 
" be obliged to do." " Why, please your 
" honour," says the honest Yorkshireman, 
pulling off his hat, and making his lowest reve- 
rence, " If you had not backed, I must.'" 

Such is the ludicrous condition, to which you 
have reduced yourself: but, unhappily, there is 
something in it worse than ludicrous. Sir, 
you must know better than I can presume to 
judge, what was due to your own dignity, I 
had almost said, to your own honour. But as 
one of your warm admirers, as one who was 
persuaded by your powerful and manly elo- 
quence in 1813, almost to wish that your 
labours might ultimately succeed, I felt no 
slight pain in witnessing so strange, so unac- 
countable a fall, — in seeing you submit to the 
insolent domination of those demagogues, — in 



42 



BILL OF 1825. 



seeing you look on with patience, while they 
<e plucked out the heart" of your own enterprise, 
— in seeing you complete the career of defection 
and apostasy, by standing forwards as the 
leading advocate of the Bill of 1825.— That Bill 
I have already presumed to call an insult on the 
common sense of the country,— and I am well 
aware that I have no right to say this of a mea- 
sure which had the sanction of yourself and a 
majority of the late House of Commons, with- 
out being ready to prove the charge. I pro- 
ceed, therefore, to examine its provisions ; and 
you, Sir, at least, will have no reason to com- 
plain, if I make your Bill of 1813 the principal 
standard of comparison. 

Bill of 1825. 

The concessions made in the last Bill are so 
entirely, or so nearly, the same with those 
before proposed, that I do not think it neces- 
sary to remark upon them — they extend to the 
admission of the Roman Catholics to an equality 
of legislative, judicial, and executive powers, 
excepting the offices of Lord Lieutenant of Ire- 
land, and of Lord Chancellor both of England 
and Ireland. 

The Securities, with which these concessions 
were to be accompanied, are the only subject 
worthy of inquiry. They consist of a new 



OATH. 



43 



Oath, and of two Royal Commissions, charged 
with certain duties, touching, first, the appoint- 
ment of Roman Catholic Bishops and Deans; — 
and, secondly, the reception of Bulls and other 
instruments from Rome. 

I will examine these in their order. And 
first of the Oath. — It contains nothing which 
has not been already prescribed by the Irish 
Act of the 13th and 14th of George III., or by 
that of the 33d of the same king. So far there- 
fore we gain nothing. I beg pardon ; we gain 
the exchange of and for or in two of its clauses. 
First, — as the law now stands, the Irish Ro- 
man Catholic " renounces, rejects, and abjures 
" the opinion, that princes excommunicated 
" may be deposed and murdered;" your new 
Security- Oath would have made him renounce, 
&c. the opinion, that princes excommunicated, 
" may be deposed or murdered ;" and for the 
microscopic vigilance, which enabled you and 
your fellow-labourers in this good cause to 
suggest such an amendment in the existing 
law, I trust you will receive your due meed 
of praise. — The matter is really more import- 
ant than the Protestant reader may at first 
suspect: for the persons, whose loyalty requires 
to be secured by these provisions, are prodigi- 
ously nice and accurate, in estimating the 



44 



BILL OF 1825. 



exact quantum of obligation which they under- 
take. " Is it so nominated in the bond V is 
their constant inquiry. If not, 

" be't but so much, 
As makes it light or heavy in the substance, 
On the division of one twentieth part 
Of one poor scruple," 

they will have nothing to do with it : — as the 
following very instructive instance may de- 
monstrate. 

The last clause of the Oath of 1793 runs in 
these words, — " I solemnly swear that I will 
" not exercise any privilege to which I am, or 
" may become, entitled, to disturb and weaken 
" the Protestant Religion and Protestant Go- 
" vernment in this kingdom." The Act, pre- 
scribing this oath, was printed in Dublin (Cog- 
Ian, 1793) for the use of Roman Catholics, with 
notes ; — whether it be that Acts of Parliament 
of this nature, like the Scriptures, must not 
be circulated among the faithful without the 
aid of orthodox comments to secure their being 
understood in the sense of the Church, I know 
not. But so it was ; and the following is the 
note wherewith on this occasion the Faithful 
are edified, and we Heretics, if we are not wil- 
fully blind, may be enlightened. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CASUISTRY. 45 



"All here are agreed, that to violate the 
" above clause, it is necessary to disturb and 
" weaken, not only the Protestant Religion, but 
" likewise the Protestant Government. They 
" are connected by the conjunction and, with- 
" out any comma after religion. " (In Ireland, 
it seems, contrary to the rule of construction 
which prevails on this side of the Channel, 
punctuation is deemed an important particular 
in interpreting a statute.) " Both must be dis- 
" turbed and weakened, not in any manner, but 
i( precisely by the exercise of the privileges now 
" granted. In other respects, we are in our 
"former situation as to preaching, teaching, 
" writing, &c. ' Weaken' after ' disturb,' ap- 
" pears rather an expletive than a word con- 
" veying a distinct meaning, for it is implied 
" in ' disturb,' as whoever intends to disturb, 
" a fortiori, intends to weaken : hence the ex- 
" pression is generally understood, and so it 
" has been explained by every one consulted 
" on it — 5 to weaken by disturbance :' indeed 
" if or was between disturb and the word weaken, 
V as it was proposed to be, the signification 
" would be changed and inadmissible."* Admi- 

* See Note to Sir J. C. Hippesley's Speech, Cobbet's De- 
bates, May 11, 1813. 



46 



BILL OF 1825. 



rable casuists ! It should seem, therefore, that 
the framers of the new oath, quite aware of the 
punctilious attention paid by these religionists 
to the meaning of particles, were so good as to 
give his Majesty the full benefit of the disjunc- 
tive or, in the deposing clause. And the other 
high contracting party were graciously pleased 
to assent to the alteration. To say the truth, 
the concession would not have gone quite so 
far, as it may have been at first supposed ; for 
although either to depose or murder would be 
forbidden by the new oath, yet very little inge- 
nuity is requisite to discover, that a Heretic 
and excommunicate king may be killed without 
being murdered. I am aware, Sir, that there 
is a modern authority for the assertion, that the 
Council of Constance has expressly declared, 
" that the king-killing doctrine, or murder of 
" princes excommunicated for Heresy, is im- 
" pious and execrable, being contrary to the 
" laws of God and nature. " # 

But this, I am sorry to say, is only one of the 
many instances, in which those, who, like my- 
self, have the misfortune to be employed in 
hunting these Jesuits through their various 

* Gother's " Catholic Principles," republished by Dr. Cop- 
pinger, cited in Sir J. C. Hippesley's Speech, May 18, 1810. 
Cobbett's Debates. 



MISREPRESENTATION BY GOTHER. 47 



windings, are taught the absolute impossibility 
of taking any thing whatever on their bare as- 
sertion. Sir, the decree of the Council of Con- 
stance, not only does not say, what Gother and 
Dr. Coppinger are pleased to say for it ; but its 
real words imply the very contrary. They are 
as follows : — " The following article is con- 
" demned : # 'Every tyrant may and ought 
" ' lawfully and meritoriously to be put to 
" ' death by any vassal or subject of his, even 
" ' by clandestine artifice, &c. notwithstanding 
" 6 any oath taken to him, or compact made 
" f with him, without waiting for the sentence or 
" ' command of any judge whatever.' " Hereby 
implying, that princes have judges who can 
pronounce sentence upon them, and can com- 
mand that they be cut off. 

Let us add the canon of Urban II. | which 
says, " We do not consider those as homicides, who, 
" burning with zeal for the Catholic Church 
" against excommunicated persons, happen to 
" have killed any of them," and in consequence 
requires that but a moderate penance be laid on 
such persons, — a canon which still has its place 
in the ecclesiastical code, and is part of the canon 

* Con. Const. Sess. xv. 

f 47 Ca. 23. Qu. vi. Excommunicatorum. 



48 



BILL OF 1825. 



law of the Church of Rome. It follows, that if 
the party, who takes this oath, be content to 
kill an excommunicated king, from the impulse 
of religious zeal, without previously deposing 
him, as such " killing" is no " murder," he 
certainly would not violate the oath. 

But I repeat, I am eager to give all due 
praise, whatever it be, to the caution which has 
obtained for us even this one point. The pro- 
posed security-oath abjures the opinion, that 
an excommunicated king may be deposed or 
murdered ; not, as it stood before, deposed and 
murdered ! You were also so good, as to make 
a similar amendment in one particular of the 
other clause, which has been cited above. " I 
" will not use any privilege, &c. to disturb the 
" Protestant Religion or Protestant govern- 
" ment," is the form in which it stands in your 
oath. As for disturbing and weakening them, 
your friends at Dublin having declared, that 
the change of and into or is there inadmissible, 
you very prudently omit the phrase altogether. 

We have now seen all the new security you 
have given us in the oath. It consists of twice 
changing and into or ! Let us next look to the 
opposite side of the account, where we find the 
following items standing against you. 

The clause " I do swear, that I will defend 



CLAUSES OF FORMER OATH OMITTED. 49 

" to the utmost of my power, the settlement 
" and arrangement of property within this 
" realm, as established by the laws," is omit- 
ted ; and yet it appears in evidence before the 
Committee of the House of Commons, — it is 
indeed a matter of universal notoriety, — that the 
descendants of the former owners of forfeited 
property in Ireland, extending to almost the 
whole land, still keep alive the memory of their 
claims, and are ready eagerly to avail them- 
selves of any convulsion which could give a 
hope of asserting them with success!* 

Again, the clause " I do declare solemnly 
" before God, that I believe that no act, in it- 
" self unjust or immoral, can ever be justified 
" or excused, by or under the pretence, or 
" colour, that it was done, either for the good 
" of the Church, or in obedience to any eccle- 
" siastical power whatsoever," as also, " that it 
" is not an article of the Catholic faith, neither 
" am I thereby required to believe, that I am 
" bound to obey any order in its own nature 
" immoral, though the Pope, or any ecclesias- 
" tical power, should issue or direct such order; 
" but on the contrary I hold, that it would be 
" sinful in me to pay any respect or obedience 

* See Col. Irwin before Coram. 696-8. 

E 



50 BILL OF 1825. 

" thereto;" all this is omitted, and yet the 
history of the three last centuries proclaims to 
every one who thinks of history at all as some- 
thing better than " an old almanack," that the 
mandates of nuncios, bishops, and priests, in 
defiance of the laws of God and man, have re- 
peatedly led the people of that unhappy land 
to every deed of violence, which men can 
commit. 

At this very day, it is notorious, that the Bull 
Unigenitus is received, and is in force in Ire- 
land, and that one of the propositions condemned 
by that Bull is as follows : — " That the fear of 
" an unjust excommunication, ought not to 
" deter us from doing our duty." Dr. Murray 
has indeed endeavoured, in his evidence,* to 
explain away this most astounding fact. He 
says, that " the proposition was condemned in 
" the precise meaning of the individual (Ques- 
" nel) out of whose book it was extracted : 
" which meaning was, that he was not to be 
" deterred from supporting certain condemned 
" errors by the dread of an excommunication, 
" for that an unjust excommunication should 
" not deter a man from doing his duty, that is, 
<e from doing that particular duty, a thing 



* P. 647. Com mom. 



BULL UNIGENITUS. 



51 



" which really was not a duty but a crime." 
Dr. Murray must have sadly forgotten himself, 
when he hazarded such an assertion before the 
Committee. He will, on recollection, I doubt 
not, be ready to retract it, and to acknowledge 
thatQuesnel, as well as the Jansenists in general, 
not only did not support the condemned errors, 
but actually admitted that they were heretical! 
Their offence was of a very different kind ; 
namely, that while they condemned the erro- 
neous propositions, they denied that those pro- 
positions were contained in the books out of 
which the Pope had professedly extracted them. 
In short, they did not subscribe to the Pope's 
infallibility in matters not of faith (that they 
admitted) but of dogmatic fact. The Pope 
issued a Bull enjoining them, on pain of ex- 
communication, to admit his infallibility in this 
latter sense. Quesnel thought it his duty to 
decline making this admission, and said that 
" the fear of an unjust excommunication ought 
" not to deter us from doing our duty." Thus, 
then, it was that the Pope condemned, and so 
do the Roman Catholics of Ireland (for they 
have admitted his Bull) condemn, the proposi 
tion, that the dread of excommunication ought 
not to deter the members of their church from 



52 



BILL OF 1825. 



doing what they conceive to be their duty*— 
the duty, in the instance proposed, of refusing 
to affirm what the party did not believe to be 
true, even on a point never before decided by 
the Church, and resting solely on a Bull of the 
Pope. But how on this principle can we be 
assured, that the Roman Catholics of Ireland 
will not, on all occasions, yield to the terrors 

* It is curious and edifying to see how the Class Book of 
Maynooth deals with this extraordinary censure in the Bull 
Unigenitus j and it has too intimate a connection with the 
principles of the Roman Catholics to be foreign to our present 
purpose. " Of unjust excommunications," it says, " some are 
" evidently unjust, others not so ; and not all unjust excommu- 
" nications are null and void." Again, " there are various 
" kinds of duties, some necessary and immutable, others liable 
" to change ; we must distinguish too, between duties evidently 
" immutable, and those which are falsely, or rashly, or doubt- 
iC fully esteemed such. Now as the proposition of Quesnel, 
" ' Excommunicationis injustae metus non debet nos impedire 
" ab implendo nostro officio,' is indefinite, negative, and in a 
" matter of doctrine, it is, by the rules of logic, equivalent to 
" an universal, and therefore must be understood of every unjust 
" excommunication whatever, and every duty whatever. But so 
" considered, the proposition is false, scandalous, injurious to the 
" Church and to its practice. For it is a common maxim of law, 
" that ' a sentence of excommunication, even evidently unjust, 
" if it be not null, ought to be feared and observed.' There- 
" fore the faithful ought to be hindered by it from performing 
" a duty which is not immutable, or capable of relaxation." — 
De Pcen. p. -112. 



CLASS-BOOK AT MAYNOOTH. 



53 



of excommunication, in spite of their own pri- 
vate conceptions of their duty ? The appeal to 
history, I repeat, affords a fearful confirmation 
of the reasonableness of the apprehension. 
And it has received a most instructive illustra- 
tion from the events even of the last few months. 

Would that this were all! But it is stated in 
evidence,* that it is at this hour taught at May- 
nooth, — the very passage from the Class-Book 
is adduced, — that " such is the sacredness of 
" the obligation to obey the Church, that, even 
" at the day of judgment, the sinner, who has 
<f erred by following its commands, may thus 
" address his Heavenly Judge, and claim for- 
" giveness as of right. ' Lord, if it be an error 
" which we have followed, Thou Thyself hast 
" deceived us by thine own plain and reiterated 
" direction, that we should hear the Church, 
" even as we hear Thee. Thou Thyself hast 
" deceived us by thy apostles, by the pastors and 
" teachers appointed by Thee " for the per- 
" fecting of the Saints, for the edifying of thy 
" Body" — who have commanded us so to do. 
" Thou Thyself hast deceived us by thy Church, 
" called by St. Paul " the Pillar and ground of 
" the Truth," which Church has never ceased 

* Lords, p. 682. 



I 



54 



BILL OF 1825. 



" to exact from her children a firm assent to all 
" her decrees, threatening an everlasting curse 
" against those who dare to rebel against her. 
"Conscious, alas! of our own ignorance in 
" divine things, and of the weakness of man s 
" understanding, how could we rely on our- 
" selves in searching the Scriptures, and despise 
" an authority so exalted? Confidently, there- 
"fore, ice say, O Lord, if it be an error which we 
" have followed, Thou Thyself hast deceived 

" US AND WE ARE EXCUSED.' " 

I assure you, Sir, it is some relief to a mind 
of ordinary piety, to turn from blasphemy so 
revolting, even to the details of your Security- 
Oath. I must next, therefore, apprise my 
readers that the following clause of the old oath, 
" I also declare that it is not an article of the 
" Catholic Faith, neither am I required to believe 
"or profess, that the Pope is infallible" is omitted. 
The old oath itself is so far deficient on this 
point, that it does not require the party to dis- 
claim for himself the belief of the Pope's infalli- 
bility ; and yet, if he believe that article, what 
security can he give for his allegiance to any 
Protestant Government ? If the Pope is infal- 
lible, then was the Massacre on St. Bartholo- 
mew's Day a righteous and a holy deed ; for 
Gregory XIII. not only went in solemn proces- 



PAPAL INFALLIBILITY. 



55 



sion to the church of St. Louis, to return thanks 
to God for it, but also he sent plenary indul- 
gences in abundance to the king and people of 
France, in reward of their exemplary zeal. If 
the Pope is infallible, then is the king-killing 
doctrine of the Jesuit Saurez true ; for Paul IV. 
sanctioned it with his express approbation. 
But why should I go back to former centuries ? 
If the Pope is infallible, then must his deposing 
power (in spite of Dr. Doyle's sworn testimony 
that it is quite obsolete) be still admitted, for 
Pius VII., in our own days, recognized it in 
his Bull of excommunication against his once 
beloved son Buonaparte ; — and the possession of 
ecclesiastical lands or goods by heretics, is 
sacrilegious and impious ; for so the same Pope 
maintained by his Nuncio at the Diet of Ratisbon 
in 1803. And yet, Sir, with all these, and all 
the other obvious consequences of the doctrine 
of Papal Infallibility staring you in the face, 
not only you and the Committee were pleased 
to suffer Dr. Doyle to evade stating his own 
opinion* on this point, and to send you for 

* What may be Dr. Doyle's opinion on this point is not, 
perhaps, of very great moment. But it is worth remarking to 
those who ascribe importance to the opinions of Universities, 
that the University at which he was educated, that of Coimbra, 
gave its formal opinion in 1717 in favour of the infallibility of 



56 



BILL OF 1825. 



further information to a scarce work of an old 
Bishop of the Canaries (who, by the way, 
expressly affirms it), but also you strike out all 
reference to it in your oath, and so would per- 
mit even those, who hold it as a matter of divine 
faith, to bear part in the government of this 
Protestant land. 

It would be tedious to pursue my observa- 
tions on all the omissions of this precious oath : 
— I shall content myself therefore, with merely 
mentioning, that the clause, which disclaims 
belief in the efficacy of the Absolution of Sins 
at the mere will of the priest, is also omitted. 

But there remains a particular, on which I 
must detain you with a few remarks. The last 
clause of the proposed oath is as follows: " And 
" I do solemnly swear, that I will never exer- 
" cise any privileges to which I am, or may 
" become entitled, to disturb the Protestant 
" Religion or Protestant Government, in this 
" kingdom." " To disturb the Protestant Reli- 
" gion" is perhaps, in itself, one of the most 

the Pope. ic Our University," so it writes by its Rector to Cle- 
ment XI., knows, that by the mouth of the Soiereig?i Pastor, 
"it is God himself who speaks to the Flock, over which the 
u Holy Ghost has constituted him the Universal Bishop, to 
" govern the Church of God." — Hist, des Papes, t. v. p. 476. 
(par Fr. Bruys.) 



DUPLICITY OF DR. DOYLE. 



57 



vague and unmeaning phrases, that could have 
been devised. It admits of evasion and equivo- 
cation without end. I will notice only one 
instance, the obvious and important distinction, 
— one actually taken by Dr. Doyle, — between 
the Protestant Religion, and the Protestant 
Established Church. That very single-minded 
and ingenuous divine, under the signature of 
I. K. L., has instructed his readers, that to strip 
the Established Church in Ireland of what he 
conceives its ill-gotten and ill-employed posses- 
sions, would rather strengthen than impair the 
Protestant Religion! of course, therefore, to 
endeavour to accomplish this end, would be not 
at all inconsistent with the oath. It is true, 
that, according to the clause immediately pre- 
ceding, they must not intend " to subvert the 
" present Church Establishment, for the pur- 
" pose of substituting a Roman Catholic Esta- 
" blishment in its stead:" — but this is all; if 
they keep clear of the latter purpose, they may 
intend and labour to the utmost, — indeed, they 
seem invited to do so, — for the subversion of 
the Established Church. On this account, 
you, Sir, in your better days, or Mr. Grattan, 
introduced into the Bill of 1813, the following 
very important improvement of this part of the 
present oath. " I do solemnly swear, that I 



58 bill of 1825. 

" will not use any privilege, power, or influence, 
" which I do now, or may hereafter possess, to 
" overthrow or disturb the present Church 
" Establishments of the United Kingdom ; and 
" that I never will, by any conspiracy, con- 
" trivance, or device whatsoever, abet others in 
" any attempt to overthrow or disturb the same ; 
" and that I will make known to His Majesty, 
ft &c. all attempts, plots, or conspiracies, whe- 
i( ther at home or abroad, which shall come to 
" my knowledge, for effecting either of these 
" purposes." 

A similar caution was observed in that part of 
Mr. Plunkett's Bill of 1821, which prescribed 
the oath to be taken by the Roman Catholic 
Clergy; — they were to swear, that they would 
have - ( no correspondence or communication 
" with Rome for the purpose of directly or indi- 
" rectly disturbing the Protestant Government, 
" or the Protestant Established Church of Great 
" Britain and Ireland." Why, Sir, were these 
valuable precedents abandoned on this last 
occasion ? Why was it, that you reverted to 
the old, and avowedly defective, phraseology 
of the existing oath ? — Why, but because the 
whole proceeding was regulated according to 
the views and wishes of the Roman Catholics 
themselves, — of the very persons, against whose 



DRAWN BY ROMAN CATHOLICS. 59 

apprehended hostility new checks and safe- 
guards were to be devised. Mr. O'Connell 
wrote to his Dublin friends, that such was the 
liberal wish for conciliation in England, that he 
himself was employed to draw the Bill! and 
though the dignity of our senators took fire at 
the intimation, the internal evidence proves 
most conclusively, either that Mr. O'Connell 
said what was literally correct, or at least that 
he was allowed "an effectual negative" on your 
deliberations. I suspect, that Dr. Doyle was 
also of the party ; for the interests of his order 
were too amply and warily provided for, to 
have been altogether the work of laymen how- 
ever liberal. In short, nothing seems to have 
been insisted upon, which the Roman Catholics 
could find any difficulty in yielding; if any 
objection, on their part, arose, the point itself 
was abandoned ; and this whole process of 
arranging the terms of the oath, was no better, 
than allowing you to march out with the 
honours of war, and sparing you the shame of 
a surrender at discretion. 

So much for Security the first, — and the chief, 
— the New Oath. It leaves out almost all the 
most important articles of the oath already 
prescribed by law but it presents us with the 



60 



BILL OF 1825. 



grand improvement of twice exchanging and 
for or ! 

Let us pass to Security the second. The 
Bill proceeds to declare, that " regulations 
" touching the appointment of bishops and deans 
" of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland are 
" deemed necessary:" and truly when the por- 
tentous powers possessed, and exercised, by 
these functionaries, in the present state of that 
unhappy country, are borne in. mind, — still 
more, when it is recollected who, and of what 
character, are some of the personages who now 
fill the station of bishops there, — that one of 
them, under the signature of I. K. L., is by far 
the most daring and seditious libeller of the 
day, — that another scruples not (if the public 
papers do not belie him) to address an assembly 
of thousands of the most ignorant of his coun- 
trymen in terms hardly short of excitement to 
immediate insurrection,* — it will readily be con- 

* Dublin, Sept. 11, 1826. " A baronial meeting was held 
" a few days since, under the ruins of the ancient Abbey of 
" Murisk, in the County of Mayo. At this meeting several 
u thousand persons attended. The meeting was addressed by 
" the Rev. Dr. Kelly, a Roman Catholic Bishop." Among 
other things, " Look around" said he, "and behold those vener- 
" able ruins under which we are assembled — such is the disgraceful 



APPOINTMENT OF R. C. BISHOPS. 



61 



ceded, that " regulations touching the appoint- 
" ment of them" are indeed " necessary." It 
was, therefore, with pleasure we saw in your 
Bill of 1813, a Board provided, consisting, in 
addition to some of these ecclesiastics them- 
selves, of certain of the leading laymen of their 
communion, and, at the head of all, a Protestant 
of high rank and consideration, no less than one 
of His Majesty's Secretaries of State in Eng- 
land, or the Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant 
in Ireland; these were to report on the fitness 
of the candidates proposed, and on their report 
His Majesty was to signify his approbation or 
disapprobation of the appointment. But a 
Board so constituted— much more possessed 

" and oppressive system of the penal laws, that if I had means of 
<c throwing a roof over this building, that you might congregate 
" here for the worship of God, that act would be illegal, although 
ei this church was built by the pious offerings of your ancestors. 
" On every side to which we turn there are pains and penalties 
" for the persecuted Catholic. Is he not compelled to break 
" through the ordinances of his church, or be dismissed from 
<c \\s employment ? Must he not work at factories not far from 
" where we now stand, on days on which he should worship 
" his God, or be turned out of employment, and stigmatized by 
" the name of Papist ? My friends, those things are quite farm- 
" liar to us ; if any other nation suffered as we have suffered — 
" if our English friends were to endure such oppression, do you not 
" imagine that they would be long since removed f" 



62 



BILL OF 1825. 



of such authority — was not to the taste of your 
present masters, — and, therefore, as a matter 
of course, it was abandoned; — and our Sove- 
reign was not to be permitted to exercise any 
power whatever, no, nor to possess the smallest 
influence, over this Irish hierarchy, though it is 
notorious, that the schismatical Emperor of 
Russia and the heretical King of Prussia exer- 
cise, in the appointment of the Roman Catholic 
bishops of their dominions, a power far exceed- 
ing the utmost ever proposed to be given to His 
Majesty, and have each of them an accredited 
agent at Rome, chiefly for the exercise of it. 
Our King himself has an absolute negative 
(with the consent of Rome) on the appointment 
of bishops of that communion in Canada; and 
the bishop of Quebec is not allowed so much as 
to choose his coadjutor, until the latter has been 
approved by the civil governor.* So plain 
indeed is the right, and so obvious the necessity 
of asserting it, that the late Pope, on being 
informed of the unwillingness of the bishops of 
his church in Ireland to concede the power 
which he had expressly given, actually addressed 
to them, on the 1st of February, 1816, a long 

* Dr. Milner's Letter to a Parish Priest, Aug. 1808, quoted 
by Sir J. C. Hippesley in his Speech, May 18, 1810. 



PIUS VII. AUTHORIZES THE VETO. 63 

letter of remonstrance and reproof. After de- 
monstrating the propriety, justice, -and expe- 
dience of the regulation, he thus concludes : 
" Such being the state of this momentous ques- 
" tion, what hope could there be entertained, 
" that the British government would long have 
" submitted to an exclusion from a share in 
" appointing the bishops of your island, while a 
' c conduct so different is observed not only to 
" Catholic sovereigns, to those even whose 
" dominions are of the smallest extent, but also 
' ' to princes who do not belong to our commu- 
" nion?"' " We, therefore, venerable brothers, 
" entertain no doubt, that you all, having con- 
" sidered, and duly weighed, what we have 
■ ' thus set before you, will acknowledge the 
" measure adopted by us to be most just 3 and 
" will in all respects conform yourselves to 
« it." 

Such was the language of Pius VII. himself 
on this subject. But even the mandates from 
Rome are deemed by your Irish friends un- 
worthy of their attention, when they coincide 
with the claims of duty to their temporal sove- 
reign. Accordingly, in this Bill of theirs and 
yours, the right, so freely given to every other 

* See the whole Letter in the App. to Butler's Memoirs of 
English Catholics, vol. iv. p. 536. 



64 



BILL OF 1825. 



government in Europe, is absolutely refused to 
our own. 

But a Board of Commissioners was to be 
created: this would, at any rate, sound well. — 
And what was to be their business? They 
were " to certify to his Majesty the appoint- 
" ment of any bishop or dean, to be hereafter 
" appointed in the said Roman Catholic 
" Church in Ireland!" Why, this, instead of a 
security, is nothing else but a new and very 
important concession: it is in plain English, to 
give them, what the law to this hour withholds, 
the public and formal recognition of their rank 
and character of bishops. — It may, however, 
be said that the certificate was to conclude in 
these words — " And we do believe the said 
" A. B. to be a loyal subject of his Majesty." 
True: but the persons so certifying are not 
those who make the appointment, or necessarily 
know any thing of the person appointed. They 
are bound to ee believe him," as they are bound 
to believe every one, t( to be a loyal subject," 
unless he has given to them actual indications 
of his disloyalty. Does then such an attesta- 
tion afford to the state the slightest security 
worth demanding, in a case where the very 
foundation of the demand is a just and reason- 
able jealousy of the dispositions of persons ap- 



APPOINTMENT OF R. C. BISHOPS. G5 

pointed to stations of great and extensive influ- 
ence ? 

The oath prescribed by the Bill of 1813 for- 
bade any ecclesiastic from " concurring in or 
" consenting to the appointment or consecration 
" of any Roman Catholic bishop or dean, whom 
" he did not conscientiously believe to be of 
" unimpeachable loyalty and peaceable con- 
" duct." Mr. Plunket's Bill of 1821 gave a 
similar, though somewhat weaker, assurance. 
Why, then, in this instance also, was the 
wholesome strictness of the precedents before 
you wilfully and studiously abandoned ? 

But of whom was the Board to consist ? 
Solely of the Roman Catholic bishops themselves. 
Such men, as those, to whose pioceedings I 
have just now adverted, are to vouch for the 
loyalty of their future colleagues ! Sir, I will 
not abuse the patience of my readers, by com- 
menting on such a provision. I will only in- 
treat you to follow up your own principle, and 
recommend to your brother Secretary of State, 
Mr. Peel, that in his amendment of the criminal 
law, he give us the benefit of this new Security 
for our lives and properties, and provide, that 
in future every person charged with felony shall 
be tried by a jury taken out of Newgate. 



60 



BILL OF 1825. 



One other Security remains. To the same 
Board of Roman Catholic Bishops, every Bull 
or other instrument from Rome is to be sub- 
mitted ; and " if they shall not find any thing 
" in the said instrument, which shall appear to 

them to be in any way injurious to the safety 
" or tranquillity of the United Kingdom, or to 
" the Protestant Establishment in Church or 
" State, they shall report the same to his Ma- 
" jesty, or to the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland; 
" and thereupon the said instrument shall be 
" returned to the person, &c, with an indorse- 
" ment signed by the President of the Board, 
" signifying that the same had been duly in- 
" spected, and reported upon," &c. I hope, 
Sir, that the friends of " the Protestant Esta- 
blishment in Church and State," are duly 
sensible of your goodness in placing their in- 
terest under the protection of such trust- 
worthy guardians. But this by the way. The 
real practical amount of this final " Security," 
would be another great concession; it would 
give to the " bishops of the Roman Catholic 
" Church* in Ireland" a legalized right to com- 
municate, as they please, with the Pope, and 

* In the Bill as first printed, it was " Roman Catholic 
" Church of Ireland ;" but this was thought too daring, and 
was altered in the committee to " in Ireland." 



BULL OF INDULGENCE. 



67 



to circulate, as they please, whatever mandates 
he may think fit, or be induced, to issue. 

How admirably, in the discharge of this 
duty, they would consult for the honour of our 
sovereign, and the liberty and edification of his 
subjects, has been manifested by recent expe- 
rience. It was but last year, that they published 
in Ireland a Bull extending the jubilee of the 
preceding year, (which, in consequence, as it 
seemed, of the inquiries going forwards in Par- 
liament, they did not then think fit to publish,) 
to six months longer, excusing the faithful from 
the trouble of journeying to Rome, and granting 
a share in its benefits to all, who having with 
true repentance confessed their sins, and re- 
ceived the holy Eucharist, shall devoutly visit 
their cathedral, and three other churches, once 
at least on every day for fifteen days, and there 
" pour forth their supplication to God, for the 
" propagation of our holy religion, the en- 
" lightening of all who are in error 1 ' (such is 
their delicate translation of pro exaltatione 
ecclesise, hseresum extirpatione, &c.) ; " to all," 
it adds, " faithfully complying with these con- 
" ditions, ive mercifully concede, and grant in the 
" Lord, that they, for once, obtain the plenary 
" indulgence of the jubilee, the pardon and re- 
" mission of all their sins." 

v 2 



68 



BILL OF 1825. 



Again, three years ago these same bishops 
formally, and with their signatures affixed, set 
forth an " encyclical letter" of the present 
Pope, forbidding the circulation of the Holy 
Scriptures in Ireland, speaking of the transla- 
tion of them into the common language of the 
country, (in other words, the authorized version, 
the Holy Scriptures in the view of the Law,) 
as a means of " turning the Gospel of Christ 
" into the Gospel of the Devil," as a " plague," 
" a most wicked novelty," " noxious both to 
" faith and morals." 

Sir, I need not say, for you largely dwell on 
it, that the procuring such instruments from 
Rome is illegal, that it subjects those who pro- 
cure them to the penalties of a premunire. To 
see such severe penalties inforced is more than 
any of us could wish ; but I beg leave to ex- 
press my entire concurrence in an opinion,* 
formerly entertained and avowed by yourself, 
that at any rate " the security against illicit 
" correspondence with Rome, allowed on all 
" hands to be necessary to the state, ought no longer 
" to slumber in obsolete black-letter." It is too 
much that these persons should presume on 
absolute impunity, and should be permitted to 



* Debates, 11th May, 1813. 



GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND. 69 

brave the laws of their country at pleasure. I 
am well aware, that to expect the interference 
of the present Attorney General for Ireland 
against such offenders, might be deemed a little 
unreasonable. But there is a Secretary of 
State for the home department, who never yet 
shrunk from the discharge of any public duty ; 
and there is a Secretary of the Lord Lieutenant 
of Ireland, under whose very eyes these blas- 
phemous (and the latter of them, I submit, libel- 
lous) publications must have issued. From one, 
or both, of these distinguished and honourable 
men, better things might have been hoped. If 
by the very anomalous nature of the policy 
pursued towards Ireland, — by the Mezentian 
expedient, which hangs about them some 
chilling, palsying, deadening weight, to rob 
their native spirit of more than half its energy, — 
if, I say, they are thus prevented from accom- 
plishing the good which their own wishes 
might prompt them to effect — at least we might 
expect, that in such a case as this, they would 
avow and deplore the condition in which they 
are placed. " Habemus senatus consultum," 
they might say to Parliament, " habemus 
" senatus consultum vehemens et grave ; non 
" deest reipublicae consilium neque auctoritas 



70 



BILL OF 1825. 



" hujus ordinis ; nos, nos, dico aperte, consules 
" desumus." 

But let this pass. Painful as it is, to see 
the spiritual interests of five millions of our 
fellow-subjects thus impudently sported with by- 
Bulls from Rome, in defiance of the law, even 
this is better, than that it should be done in 
conformity to law; — it is less mortifying, than 
to see these same pestilent absurdities, these 
monuments at once of the presumption and of 
the folly of man, formally set forth (as they 
would be, if your Bill had passed into a law) 
under the authority of " his Majesty's Commis- 
" sioners for regulating the Intercourse of Sub- 
" jects of this Realm with the See of Rome."~ 

And now, Sir, having toiled through the Bill, 
permit me to recapitulate the fair and full 
amount of the new " Securities" therein de- 
vised. Two of the three provisions, which 
you are pleased to dignify by that name, are 
found, in truth, to be new and large con- 
cessions to the Roman Catholics;— the other, 
— the sole remaining fruit of seven-and-twenty 
years of hard labour, given successively by 
some of the acutest and most powerful intel- 
lects which England and Ireland have ever 



AMOUNT OF NEW SECURITIES. 



71 



produced, to the momentous problem of 
" combining Catholic Freedom with Protestant 
Security," — is the amendment of two clauses of 
the Irish Oath of 1793, by changing therein the 
conjunction and into or. 

Really, Sir, if the dignity of your station and 
character did not forbid the supposition, I 
should imagine that you had no other purpose 
in recommending such provisions, than to laugh 
at the whole proceeding. But, no; it comes 
from you in very sober earnest : and the most 
charitable way of viewing the whole matter, is 
to believe, that you have so tied and hampered 
yourself with this unhappy question, that you 
must see it disposed of at any hazard. You 
dare not scrutinize the particular measure de- 
vised for the purpose, whether by yourself or 
others. You are afraid of looking into its de- 
tails, lest they should be found too absurd, or 
too mischievous, for even the powers of your 
eloquence to make them decently producible to 
an assembly of educated Englishmen. You, 
therefore, dispose of the whole of them in a 
lump. And the majority of the House, equally 
tired of the question, and equally committed 
upon it, with yourself, cheers you while you 
say that " you will not now enter into the ques- 
" tion of securities, further than observing, that 



72 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" you do not think we can have any better than those 
" proposed" 

Mr. Cannings Speech. 

From this view of the Bill, I pass to the 
Speech with which you were pleased to sup- 
port it. 

And here, Sir, I cannot but express my 
astonishment, that such a Speech should ever 
have issued from your lips. That there are in it, 
as there must always be in every considerable 
effort of yours, proofs of uncommon talent, 
splendid imagery, felicitous expression, I need 
not say. But the total absence of every thing 
like reasoning, the careful avoidance of all grap- 
pling with the real difficulties of your subject, 
the fabrication of foolish objections for the mere 
purpose of knocking them down, — above all, 
the tone of exaggeration, of forced passion, of 
idle menace, nay, of palpable contradiction, 
which mainly distinguish it, — form such a 
contrast to your happier, I should say your 
ordinary, style, as gives it the air of travestie, 
rather than of a genuine production of your rare 
genius. I am not ignorant, that it was charac- 
terized by one of the ablest of your hearers, as 
" unanswerable;" but, in sober truth, I can 
hardly imagine a more amusing exhibition, than 



OATH AGAINST TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 73 

an answer to it from yourself. How would the 
unhappy wight, who had ventured in your 
hearing to utter such an harangue in opposition 
to you, have been made to wince, and writhe, 
and groan, under the sting of your sarcastic 
tongue! You would have silenced him for the 
remainder of the session. 

I, Sir, do not presume, — I am not able, — to 
answer you: but I will state faithfully every 
thing in the shape of argument, which is re- 
ported to have been spoken by you on this 
occasion, in order that you may see, how rich 
a mine of ridicule was open to any one capable 
of working it. 

I. Your first argument is as follows : — " What 
" was it, that prevented the Catholics from 
" taking their seats in that House? The oath 

against Transubstantiation. But while they 
" excluded a man from Parliament for his belief 
" in transubstantiation, it ought not to be for- 
" gotten, that he who believed in consubstan- 
" tiation enjoyed every privilege of the Con- 
" stitution. He did not say there was no dif- 
" ference between the two opinions; but the 
" man who could make it a ground of exclusion 
" from political power, must have a minute 
" perception of the niceties of ratiocination, for 
" which he might be envied as a logician, but 



74 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" which was wholly useless for the purposes of 
6i common life."* Hear. Hear. 

Sir, I will not do your powerful understand- 
ing the injustice of supposing for a single in- 
stant, that you ever ascribed the smallest 
weight to so barefaced a sophism. But non 
causa pro causa is, sometimes, a very pretty 
and effective fallacy; and, in the absence of 
sounder materials, must not be discarded. Its 
real value on the present occasion may be best 
illustrated by putting a parallel case. 

In order to protect the Bank of England from 
forgery, it is highly penal " for any one to have 
in his possession a frame for making paper with 
waved lines." Imagine, then, some sagacious 
country-gentleman, fresh from Burn, to come 
down to the House, and denounce, with be- 
coming self-complacency, the monstrous injus- 
tice, that while straight-lined paper may be 
made with impunity, any honest man, who 
happens to have a curved-line frame in his 
house, is liable to be sent to Botany Bay. " I 
" do not deny," says he, " that there is a dif- 
" ference between straight and waved lines ; 
" but the man who thinks that difference so 
" great, that the possessor of the waved-line 

* I quote from Parliamentary History and Review for 1825. 



OATH AGAINST TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 75 



" frame is unfit to abide in the same hemisphere 
" with him of the straight, has an acuteness of 
44 sensibility to lineal rectitude, which, however 
44 it may demand our admiration, is utterly un- 
" fit for ordinary life." 

You will, I am sure, agree with me, that this 
argument is the very counterpart of your's. The 
only difference is, that the worthy Baronet 
would begin by deceiving himself, before he 
make any attempt on the understanding of his 
hearers — while the Right Honourable Secretary 
is altogether indulging in a speculation on the 
suasibility of others. On a former occasion, you 
were heard to state this matter, not certainly 
with historical, but with logical, accuracy. In 
arguing in favour of Mr. Plunket's Bill, (March 
16, 1821,) you found it convenient to suppose, 
that the Test, respecting transubstantiation, 
was framed at the Revolution. " Concurring 
44 in the religion of the exiled family," said you, 
44 the Roman Catholic subjects of the British 
44 Crown were held also to be devoted to their 
4< political claims. The Roman Catholic was 
44 presumed to be essentially a traitor; but as 
44 treason was naturally concealed as much as 
44 possible, while religion was more readily 
44 avowed, or ascertained, the test of the sm- 
44 peeled polities was sought in the professed Creed" 



76 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" Was his Creed his guilt? no. — But his Creed 
" designated the man, and his guilt consisted in 
" his foreign attachment." 

Sir, you have here given so very happy an 
explanation of the Test, that I should be 
ashamed of myself, if I were to attempt to im- 
prove upon it. I will, therefore, only beg leave 
to correct you as to its origin, and of course its 
primary purpose. It was framed (can it really 
be necessary to remind you?) fifteen years be- 
fore the Revolution, and at a time when there 
was no danger of any foreign attachment , except 
indeed to the Pope. But, in preference to using 
any words of my own, I will avail myself of the 
admission of a very distinguished Roman Ca- 
tholic in the year next after its enactment. 
Father Peter Walsh, in the Dedication of his 
History of the Irish Remonstrance " To the 
" Catholics of England, Ireland, Scotland," &c. 
(p. 15,) says, " if any shall object those penal 
" statutes, which may perhaps be thought by 
" some to have all their quarrel, and all their 
" force, against some harmless doctrines and 
" practices, as, for example, against our doc- 
" trines of the Consecration and Transubstan- 
" tiation, and our practice withall of the adora- 
" tion of the Host, which this present Parliament 
" at Westminster in their late Act may be 



father walsh's important admission. 77 



* thought by some to make the principal mark, 
f whereat all the arrows of disfavor must now 

• be shot : the answer is both consequential 
' and clear. 1 . That the Roman Catholics in 
' general of these kingdoms, both Ecclesiasticks 
' and Laicks, have always hitherto declined to 
' disown those Anti-Catholic positions, which 
' maintain the Pope's pretences of all supreme 
' both spiritual and temporal dominion. 2. 
' Their Missionaries, i. e. their Priests, labour 
' to infuse into all their penitents, all their oiun 
' principles of equivocation and mental reservation 
' in swearing any Oath, even of allegiance or su- 
' premacy to the King, and forswearing any thing 
' or doctrine whatsoever, except only those articles, 
S which by the indispensable condition of their 
?■ Communion they may not dissemble upon oath, 
" 3. That the tenet of Transubstantiation is one 
" of these; therefore to discover by this (how- 
" ever otherwise in itself a very harmless cri- 
" terium) the mischief which they conceive to 
" go along with it through the folly of Roman 
" Catholics in these dominions, they make it the 
" test of discriminating the loyally principled 
" Protestant from the disloyal and dissembling 
" Papist." 

Sir, I thank you for giving me an opportunity 
of citing this passage, because it not only af- 



78 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



fords a very complete answer to all the sagacious 
observations we are in the habit of hearing from 
divers persons besides yourself, respecting the 
folly of the law in demanding such a Test ; — but 
also because it silences another, and apparently 
much graver, objection. Almost every one who 
speaks or writes on the side of the Roman Ca- 
tholics, from the gravest senator down to the 
last speaker at a hustings or a tavern dinner, 
has been accustomed to triumph over the gross 
absurdity of requiring Oaths as a security from 
Roman Catholics, while they are charged with 
holding opinions subversive of the sanction of all 
oaths. Father Walsh has shown to us, that our 
ancestors were not so foolish, as these very wise 
persons are pleased to imagine : he has told us, 
that there are tenets which, by the indispen- 
sable condition of Roman Catholic communion, 
may not be dissembled upon oath, and that 
Transubstantiation is one of them, (as well, I 
suppose, as every other Article of Pius IV. 's 
Creed.) He has, moreover, told us, that to 
another class of oaths the same sacredness of 
obligation does not belong, — that to them, ac- 
cording to the doctrine of those Missionary 
Priests from Rome, equivocation and mental 
reservation may be very safely applied, — and 
that this is especially the case with Oaths of 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CASUISTRY. 



79 



Allegiance or Supremacy taken to the King. I 
heartily congratulate you, Sir, on a discovery 
so honourable to the persons, whose cause you 
support. But in saying this, permit me at the 
same time to say, that I have no doubt what- 
ever, there are very few of them in England 
half so bad, as these their principles, if they 
continue to be their principles ; nay, I have no 
doubt, that if Popes, or Priests, were to at- 
tempt now-a-days to draw such principles into 
practice among them here, we should soon see 
the happiest results from the experiment. But 
then, I am sorry to add, this admission must be 
confined to England : — unfortunately, there is 
another country concerned, and he must be a 
bold man, who would venture with equal rea- 
diness to answer for the mass of the Roman 
Catholic population, above all of the Roman 
Catholic Clergy, in that country. I will, there- 
fore, here subjoin one or two specimens of the 
sort of management, to which Oaths of Alle- 
giance to temporal Sovereigns (according to 
Father Walsh) are obnoxious. 

In the first place, any one, who holds the 
supreme power of the Pope even in temporal 
matters, may safely swear that he has " no 
" temporal or civil power, direct or indirect, 
" within this realm," because his power, though 



80 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



it operates on temporal matters, is not temporal, 
but spiritual. Again : by any general, though 
negative declaration, against any authority in 
general to be in the Pope, is only intended to 
deny his having an ordinary authority ; it does 
not extend to his extraordinary,* casual, celes- 
tial, divine, authority, on great, and unusual, 
contingencies. Once more, there is a very 
important distinction between the specificative 
and reduplicative sense. This will be best ex- 
plained by an example. In Father Walsh's 
time, the Irish clergy were willing to subscribe 
to this proposition, " It is our doctrine, that we 
" subjects owe so natural and just obedience to 
" our king, that no power, under any pretext 
" soever, can ever dispense with, or free us of 
" the same." Here, the reduplicative sense 
applies to " we subjects," that is, while we are 
subjects, which we shall not be, when the Pope 
by a judicial Process, or Bull, shall denounce 
the King excommunicated and deprived of the 
crown. The reduplicative sense applies also to 
" our King," that is, while he is our King, &c.j* 
Such were the principles of the Congregation, 

* This may probably explain, what most Protestant readers 
have been at a loss to understand, the Pope's Dominium altum, 
maintained by Mr. Butler. 

f See Walsh's 2d and 3d Treatises. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CASUISTRY. 



81 



of Irish Clergy in 1666, according to this honest 
Franciscan. Nor would they be moved from 
them by the precepts of the Apostles com- 
manding obedience to the civil powers, even 
under the reigns of the most tyrannical empe- 
rors. " They say, with Bellarmine," (these are 
Walsh's words,) " the Apostles, with the Fathers, 
" and other primitive Christians, dissembled on 
" this point, because they had not strength enough 
" of men and arms to oppose 

* Walsh, Third Treatise, p. 31. Before I take leave of the 
Irish Priests of Charles II. 's time, I think, it right to notice a 
very important mis-statement of Dr. Lingard respecting them. 
" The Irish Remonstrance" of 1661, of which Walsh was the 
prime advocate, was a most honest and loyal instrument, and 
was designed to satisfy the government of the sound principles 
of those who subscribed it. Accordingly Dr. Lingard, in a 
Tract published a few years ago, entitled " Documents to 
<( ascertain the Sentiments of British Catholics in former Ages 
te respecting the power of the Popes," thus speaks of it : — 

" In January, 1661, the Catholic Prelates of Ireland assembled 
" at Dublin, despatched an agent to England, to offer their 
" congratulations to the King on his restoration," &c. " Shortly 
" afterwards they transmitted to the same agent a paper to be 
" laid before the king, entitled e The humble remonstrance, 
" acknowledgment and petition, of the Roman Catholic Clergy 
" of Ireland.' As this document (Dr. Lingard continues) is 
" not generally known, though it affords a strong argument in 
" proof of the loyalty and innocence of that much-slandered 
" body, and shows the agreement between their principles and those 



82 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



In what degree the living generation of Irish 
priests may have departed from these principles 

" of the Catholics of England, I shall offer no apology for tran- 
" scribing it entire." Accordingly he transcribes it, and adds, 
ce the Chapter of the Catholic Clergy in England, who were at 
** this time without a Bishop, directed Dr. Ellice, their Dean, 
" to write a letter to the Bishop of Dromore, declaring their 
tf entire concurrence in the sentiments it contained, and their 
^willingness to subscribe a similar declaration, whenever an 
" opportunity might offer." 

Now, the obvious meaning of this statement is, that the body 
of Roman Catholic Prelates and Clergy in Ireland, as well as the 
Roman Catholic Clergy of England, held and subscribed to the 
sentiments contained in that instrument. Of the English Clergy 
he says only what is true : but, with regard to those of Ireland, 
the real facts, as Dr. Lingard must have known from the 
very authority which he cites, are as follows : — The Remon- 
strance was not transmitted by the Prelates at Dublin to their 
Agent in England, but was given to him by a layman in Lon- 
don, without their knowledge or concurrence. Only one of their 
body, the Bishop of Dromore, (who died soon afterwards,) 
could be induced to sign it. It was censured at Rome, by the 
University of Louvain, by the Nuncio at Brussels — and was 
rejected almost universally by the Irish Prelates and Priest- 
hood. Out of nearly 3,000 seculars and regulars, 70 only sub- 
scribed the Remonstrance, some of these subsequently withdrew 
their signatures — others were excommunicated, and several, in 
consequence, perished from want. 

I have been engaged in controversy with Dr. Lingard ; but 
I can assure him, that it is not with the feelings of controversy, 
that I now entreat him, in the name of that Christian Faith of 
which we both are ministers, to step forward and rescue his 



JAMES I.S OATH. 



83 



of their predecessors, is more than I can pre- 
sume to say. If charity teaches us to hope the 
best, it does not forbid us to take all reasonable 
precaution against the worst. — But I turn to 
something else, which I will take a little out of 
the order in which it stands in your Speech, 
because it has an obvious connection with the 
matters I have just considered. 

p 

You say, Sir, that the long Oath required to 
be taken by the Roman Catholic, " was origi- 
" nally devised as a taunt against his religion, 
" though it is now proposed as a limitation to 
" his capability of obtaining power." 

I assure you, that it is with reluctance I 
contradict you on a point of history : but the 
importance of the cause, of which I am the 
humble advocate, will not permit, nor would 
you desire, that I should sacrifice truth to 
courtesy. That oath, as I am surprised that 
you have forgotten, was, in its most important 
particulars, first prescribed by the 3 James I. 
c. 4. s. 15.; and James, as I need not inform 
you, was one of the last of our princes, who 
would have given vent to an idle taunt against 

name and his profession from that foul stain, which such a 
gross mis-statement must, if unexplained, indelibly stamp upon 
them. 

G 2 



84 



MR. CANNING^ SPEECH. 



the religion of Rome.* No, Sir, this oath had 
a much graver origin ; it was rendered neces- 
sary by the most atrocious act of wickedness 
recorded in the English annals. " After the 
" infernal horrors of the Gunpowder Treason, 
" James I. caused the Oath of Allegiance to be 
" enacted in Parliament, as a Test,* by which 
" his loyal Catholics, who were attached to 
" their duties, as subjects, might be discrimi- 
" nated from those other Catholics, who were 
" under the predominancy of another power. "| 
Whose language have I here employed to cor- 
rect your very inconsiderate assertion ? It is 
not my own, — it is not the language of any 
Protestant controversialist, — no, nor even of 
some solitary, liberal, Roman Catholic. It is 
part of the recorded and solemn statement of 
the " Committee of English Catholics" in 1791, 
addressed to the three Apostolic Vicars, in vin- 
dication of themselves, and of all that was most 
respectable in rank, in opulence, in character, 
of the laity of that Communion, when they 

* James says himself of this oath, " Tanto studio tantaque 
" solicitudine cavebam, ne quidquam hoc juramento contine- 
u retur, praeter fidelitatis illius, civilisque et temporalis obedi- 
" entiae, quam ipsa natura praescribit." — Jac. I. Apol. Lond. 
1619, p. 289. 

+ Declaration and Protestation, &c. p. 128. 



JAMES I.'s OATH. 



85 



were arraigned by their spiritual superiors, for 
voluntarily disclaiming before the world those 
pernicious principles, which had too long re- 
ceived the countenance and support of the 
highest authorities in their church. 

Sir, I do not wish to dwell on the shameful 
parts of the history of my Roman Catholic fel- 
low-countrymen ; but when the most distin- 
guished of their advocates strives to convert the 
guilt and opprobrium of Rome into an occasion 
of censure and reproach against the defenders 
of the Church of England, it is not easy, nor 
would it be becoming, to sit down in silence 
under your attack. 

It has been seen, that the Gunpowder Trea- 
son was the proximate cause of this oath being 
imposed ; but though the proximate, it was 
very far from being the only, cause. That 
Treason itself was, in truth, a natural fruit of 
the doctrines then almost universally taught 
in the Church of Rome. In particular, as you 
need not to be informed, Seminaries were 
founded and endowed at Rheims, at Douay, at 
Rome itself, for the education of English 
Priests ; whose first duty it was to poison the 
minds of their people against the heretical 
government under which they lived. The right 
of destroying heretics was (I wish I could say 



86 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



that it no longer is) a part of the Canon Law ; 
that right had been recently exercised against 
the sacred persons of sovereign princes. The 
same Canon Law (as we have already seen) 
held, and still holds, it a venial offence, to put 
to death an excommunicated person, whatever 
be his station, provided that it be done from zeal 
for religion. 

These, and such as these, were the reasons 
for imposing this oath, which you have thought 
fit to describe as an idle taunt. Believe me, 
Sir, it is not thus, that it has ever been re- 
garded at Rome. It was there viewed as a 
sober, serious, formidable attack on some of the 
most favoured dogmas of the Vatican. Accord- 
ingly, this oath was solemnly condemned by at 
least four Popes, besides Nuncios, and Univer- 
sities. Paul V. fulminated his censure of it in 
the following decisive terms : — " It ought to be 
" sufficiently manifest to you from the words 
" themselves, that an oath of this kind cannot be 
tc taken, without abandoni?7g the Catholic Faith, and 
" the Salvation of your Souls ; for many are the 
" things contained in it, which are manifestly 
" opposed to faith and salvation."* Urban 

* Satis vobis ex verbis ipsis perspicuum esse debet, quod 
hujusmodi juramentum salvd ride Catholica et salute aniinarum 
vestrarum praestari non potest, cum multa contineat, quae fidei 
atque saluti aperte adversantur. 



JAMES I.S OATH. 



87 



VIII., in his Brief of May 30, 1626, calls it 
" that noxious and unlawful English Oath of 
" Allegiance, the object of which is not only to 
c t secure fidelity to the King, but to wrest the 
" Sceptre of the Universal Church from the Vicars 
« of Almighty God?* 

* Noxium iliud et illicitum Angliae fidelitatis juramentum, 
quo non solum id agitur, ut fides Regi servetur, sed ut sacrum 
universae ecclesiae sceptrum eripiatur Vicariis Omnipotentis Dei. 

In order that my readers may know what are the positions, 
which called forth these censures, I here subjoin King James's 
Oath. 

Oath to be taken by 3 James I. c. 4. s. 18. 

I, A. B., do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify 
and declare in my conscience before God and the world, that 
our Sovereign Lord King James is lawful and rightful King of 
this realm, and of all other His Majesty's dominions and coun- 
tries ; and that the Pope, neither of himself, nor by any autho- 
rity of the Church or See of Rome, or by any other means, 
with any other, hath any power or authority to depose the 
King, or to dispose of any of His Majesty's kingdoms or domi- 
nions, or to authorize any foreign prince to invade or annoy 
him or his countries, or to discharge any of his subjects of their 
allegiance and obedience to His Majesty, or to give license or 
leave to any of them to bear arms, raise tumults, or to offer any 
violence or hurt to His Majesty's royal person, state, or govern- 
ment, or to any of His Majesty's subjects within his dominions. 
And I do swear from my heart, that notwithstanding any de- 
claration or sentence of excommunication or deprivation made 
or granted, or to be made or granted, by the Pope or his suc- 
cessors, or any authority derived or pretended to be derived 



88 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



So late as the year 1768, the Pope's Legate 
at Brussels, when an oath was in contempla- 
tion to be taken by the Irish Roman Catholics, 
wrote to Ireland on the subject in the following 

from him or his see against the said King, his heirs or succes- 
sors, or any absolution of the said subjects from their obedience, 
I will bear faith and true allegiance to his Majesty, his heirs 
and successors, and him and them will defend to the uttermost 
of my power, against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever 
which shall be made against his or their persons, their crown 
and dignity, by reason or colour of any such sentence or decla- 
ration, or otherwise, and will do my best endeavour to disclose 
and make known to His Majesty, his heirs and successors, all 
treasons and traitorous conspiracies, which I shall know or hear 
of to be against him or any of them. And I do further swear, 
that I do from my heart abhor, detest and abjure, as impious 
and heretical, this damnable doctrine and position, that Princes, 
which be excommunicated or deprived by the Pope, may be 
deposed or murdered by their subjects, or any other whatsoever. 

And I do believe, and in my conscience am resolved, that 
neither the Pope, nor any other person whatsoever, hath power 
to absolve me of this oath, or any part thereof, which I acknow- 
ledge by good and full authority to be lawfully ministered 
unto me, and do renounce all pardons and dispensations to the 
contrary. 

And all these things I do plainly and sincerely acknowledge 
and swear, according to these express words by me spokeu, and 
according to the plain and common sense and understanding of 
the same words, without any equivocation or mental evasion, or 
secret reservation whatsoever ; and I do make this recognition 
and acknowledgment heartily, willingly and truly, upon the 
true faith of a Christian. — So help me God. 



OATH PROHIBITED AT ROME. 



89 



terms : — " That the abhorrence and detestation of 
" the doctrine, that faith is not to be kept with 
" Heretics, and that Princes deprived by the 
" Pope may be deposed or murdered by their 
" subjects, as expressed in that proposed oath, 
" are absolutely intolerable; because those doctrines 
" are defended and contended for by most Catholic 
" nations, and the Holy See has frequently followed 
" them in practice" 

Dr. Troy, Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Dublin, contents himself with remarking upon 
this, " that the Pope's Legate at Brussels de- 
" livered his own private unauthorized opi- 
" nion."* But the Roman Catholic Church in 
Ireland was under his jurisdiction. 

Sir, it was not till within our own times, till 
the year 1778, that this oath was tolerated at 
Rome ; nor even then formally and expressly, 
nor without much of qualification and reserve, 
and some considerable alteration of its terms. 
In particular, it was not endured that the 
doctrine of the Pope's deposing power should be 
called impious, heretical and damnable ; for, as 
Dr. Milner says, e< these are all high theological 
" qualifications, which no private Catholic, 
" without inclining to schism, can undertake to 



* Sir J. C. Hippesley's Speech, 1810. — Supp. App. p. 26. 



90 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



" pronounce on a controverted point," (such, it 
seems, the deposing power still is,) " on the 
" strength of his private judgment."* 

II. But I return to the arguments of your 
Speech. That which comes next in order is as 
follows. " The next ground of objection is, 
" that the (Roman) Catholics hold the doctrine 
" of exclusive salvation. Why, almost all 
" the churches are exclusive on some articles; 
" and let not those members, who urge this 
" objection, forget that the Church of Eng- 
" land holds the Athanasian Creed — a human 
" exposition of the great mysteries of Christi- 
" anity — and holds it with the expressed de- 
" claration, that they who differ from it cannot 
" be saved. With this fact before them, could 
" the (Roman) Catholics be excluded from the 
" enjoyment of their civil rights, on the ground 
" of believing the doctrine of exclusion?" 

Sir, the laws of the old Athenian legislator, 
Draco, were said to be written in blood ; for he 
annexed the penalty of death to every offence 
whatever. Suppose, now, that a citizen of 
Megara had observed to a friend at Athens, on 
the cruelty of this sanguinary code; " This is 

* Ecclesiastical Democracy detected, p. 215. 



ATHAN ASIAN CREED. 



91 



" a dreadful system of yours, to put a man 
" to death for stealing a few figs, or breaking 
" into his neighbour's olive-ground." " Why, 
" my dear friend," answers the Athenian, " how 
" can you talk so absurdly? did not you your- 
" selves hang a man, last week, for murder?" 

This, Sir, affords but a very faint illustration 
of the wisdom of putting our use of the Atha- 
nasian Creed on a par with the tyrannical and 
intolerant principles of the Church of Rome. 
That Church, among a thousand similar extra- 
vagancies, sentences a man to the loss of all 
hope of Christian Salvation, who says, that it 
is contrary to the institution of Christ, to mix 
water with wine at the holy communion;* the 
Church of England, in the Athanasian Creed, 
pronounces the same of one who impugns the 
fundamental truths of Christianity; and you 
are pleased to say, that this deprives us of all 
right to find fault with the exclusive spirit of 
Rome. 

As to the Athanasian Creed being " a human 
exposition of the great mysteries of Christianity," 
you must forgive my telling you, that if you had 
taken the trouble of acquainting yourself with 
the nature of that formulary, you would not 



* Con. Trid. Sess. 22. Can. 9. 



92 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



have thought it a fit subject of sneer or banter. 
The Athanasian Creed is not an exposition of any 
mysteries; it does not aim at any thing so 
absurd. But it states the fundamental doctrines 
of the Gospel; and in respect to the doctrine 
of the Trinity, accompanies the statement with 
certain distinctions, which were rendered ne- 
cessary by the attempts of Heretics to corrupt 
the doctrine itself, by their own daring inno- 
vations. It also accompanies its statement 
with denouncing the awful sentence on unbe- 
lievers, which our Lord himself denounced, 
when he gave to his apostles the solemn charge 
to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, 
" he that believeth not shall be damned." 

You will perceive, therefore, that the main 
question respecting the Athanasian Creed is, 
first, whether its doctrines be true; secondly, 
whether they be fundamental. The Church of 
England holds them to be both true and funda- 
mental, and therefore scruples not to receive 
and use the Creed, notwithstanding the strong- 
terms in which the danger of unbelief is there 
set forth. 

Now, Sir, our complaint against the Church 
of Rome is, not that it excludes from Salvation 
those who impugn doctrines which it thinks 
fundamental, but that it holds as fundamental 



WRIT OF SUMMONS TO PARLIAMENT. 93 

one particular doctrine which requires the be- 
lief, under pain of damnation, of every thing 
else whatever which it shall choose to prescribe, 
I mean the infallible authority of the Church. 
This one tenet enslaves the minds of those who 
hold it; or, at any rate, it makes them unfit to 
legislate for any other Church. For it teaches 
them to regard that Church, as leading its 
members to perdition. In respect to our own 
Church, the Protestant Church of England and 
Ireland, it is admitted to be either an integral 
part, or an inseparable adjunct, of the present 
Constitution of this Kingdom. The writ of 
Summons to Parliament expresses now, as it 
did of old, one of the principal ends of holding it 
to be, to consult for the safety and defence of the 
Church of England. We say, therefore, that 
those who believe that this Church leads its 
members to damnation, as they cannot, with a 
sound conscience, consult for its safety and de- 
fence, cannot, on the principles of the British 
Constitution, be entrusted with the legislative 
powers of the state. 

This, Sir, is the argument for excluding Ro- 
man Catholics from Parliament, which we found 
on their doctrine of exclusive salvation; and 
you will, I am sure, perceive, that it remains 



04 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



completely untouched by your pleasant com- 
mentary on the Athanasian Creed. 

A more plausible answer is sometimes sug- 
gested, that whatever be the doctrines of the 
Roman Church itself, its lay members, those at 
least who would be likely to sit in Parliament, 
will trouble themselves very little with theolo- 
gical points, but will suffer all questions re- 
specting the Church to go on pretty much as 
they do at present. Sir, I certainly will not 
insult the members of a different communion, 
by speaking, or thinking, so ill of them, as to 
suppose, that, if they hold the doctrine of their 
Church in this particular, it will be perfectly 
inoperative. On the contrary, those who really 
hold it, must feel every inducement and temp- 
tation to act upon it; their spiritual instructors 
will be ready enough to apprise them of this 
duty, and their own passions will make them 
very willing to acquire the merit of obeying it. 
In a Church which keeps so accurate a ledger 
of each individual's merits and demerits, and 
allows so large a premium on acts of obedience 
to itself, we may be quite sure, that there will 
be no want of inclination to comply with so 
easy a demand. — It may be said, however, 
that there are many professed members of the 



EXCLUSIVE SALVATION. 



95 



Church of Rome, who do not hold this doctrine, 
whatever their Church may tell them. I really 
believe, that there is much truth in this obser- 
vation ; and if you could ascertain correctly, 
who. these are, I, for one, should not be afraid 
of seeing such men in Parliament. But, in the 
meanwhile, it is quite idle to speculate on the 
possible conduct of these mere entes rationis. 

That I have not too strongly stated the 
sentiments of the Church of Rome, even in 
England, respecting the spiritual state of the 
members of every other Church, especially of 
our own, I shall beg leave to demonstrate by 
one or two examples. Mr. Gandolphy, one of 
the most learned and eloquent divines of his 
Church in modern days, published, about twelve 
or fourteen years ago, four volumes of sermons, 
which received the highest praises from the See 
of Rome, and were authoritatively pronounced 
worthy to be (t cased in cedar and gold." From 
them I select the following passages: — " We 
" deny holiness and theological virtue to all 
" sectaries, because they want these first prin- 
" ciples of piety and virtue, and constitute pri- 
" vate reason and judgment the motive and the 

rule of every moral action." " On all and 
" each of the members of Protestantism, you 
" may write schismatical. I will not attempt a 



96 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



" comparative review of their distinguishing 
" defects ; this one noxious property, which 
" they all inherit, absolutely vitiates what is 
" otherwise good and fair, and not a fruit can 
" they produce, however inviting in form and 
" lustre, which is not of this schismatical qua- 
" lity." # " Even the Church of England, 
" which is the eldest of her heretical sister- 
" hood, is a schismatical branch, a dead limb of 
" the true vine, a i^ebellious child. My brethren, 
" until the Reformation, the English Church 
" formed a great branch of the Catholic Church 
" of Christ, and in that quality she communi- 
" cated with all the other churches of the world 
" in communion with her. She was a limb of 
" the true vine, and, abiding in it, brought forth 
" much fruit. She shot her tendrils into every 
" corner of these islands, and every cluster gave 
" delight to the husbandman, because he saw 
" that it was his own vine, — the vine that he 
<f had planted. But having been severed by 
" the destructive hand of schism, with a hateful 
" eye he now views the sickly sprouts, which 
" issue from its fallen, crushed, and broken 
" branches. As the branch, he says, cannot 
" bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the 



* Vol. ii. p. 75. 



EXCLUSIVE SALVATION. 



97 



" vine, — so this shall wither, and they shall 
<c gather it up, and cast it into the fire, and it 
66 shall burn."* 

I will now give some specimens of the devo- 
tions of the faithful, formed on these doctrines. 
In "A Manual of Prayers, and other Christian 
" Devotions, by R. C. D.D. Booker, 1800," 
I find the following instructive and interesting 
particulars, " Morning Prayer for Wednesday," 
p. 147. 

The Litany of Intercession for England. 

" O God the Father," &c— " Holy Mary, 
" Queen of Angels, whose powerful intercession 
" destroys all heresies, pray for England." — 
" From the dangers most justly threatening our 
" sins, deliver England, O Lord. From the 
" spirit of pride, rebellion, and apostasy, deliver 
" England. — From the spirit of hypocrisy, pro- 
t( phaneness, and sacrilege, deliver England." 

" O Eternal God, who in this great deluge of 
" heresy, which wholly overflows and almost 
" covers the face of this land, hast vouchsafed 
" to select a small number for thyself, and save 
" them in thy holy ark from the common in- 
" undation: we praise and glorify," &c. p. 153. 

* Vol. i. p. 368. 

H 



98 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



A Prayer for the preservation of the True Church. 

" O Lord, who can abide it ? what heart so 
" stony, as to forbear weeping and lamenting 
" for them, who are thus blinded, and daily mis- 
" lead others into the pit of heresy and eternal 
" damnation." 

A Prayer when the Church is Afflicted. 

" O God, the enemies of the Church are entered 
" into thy inheritance ; they have defiled the 
" temples dedicated to thy honour." " We 
" are become a reproach to our neighbours; 
" they despise and make a jest of us." " Why 
" dost thou so deliver us into the hands of our 
" adversaries?" " Be mindful, O Lord, of thy 
" holy Church, and leave it not in the hands 
" of thy enemies, but deliver it by thy strong 
"power." " Awake, O Lord God, delay no 
" longer, but come to succour thy people, make 
" haste to help thy faithful servants, and save 
" us from the hands of our enemies, fyc. that we 
" may have a little taste of the sweetness of thy 
"promises, which our forefathers have so abun- 
i( da?ttly experienced." 

Sir, you will readily believe me, that I do 
not complain of these prayers ; they accord 



DR. DOYLE'S LETTER TO E. OF FARNHAM. 99 

with the feelings of persons who hold the princi- 
ples of the Church of Rome ; I only mean, that 
those who hold principles, which produce such 
feelings, are not quite fit to be entrusted with 
the power of legislating for our schismatical, 
heretical, and, as they conceive, damnable 
Church. 

If I were to inquire into the expression of the 
feelings of Roman Catholics in Ireland, on the 
same subject, it cannot be doubted, that stronger 
language of detestation and abhorrence would 
easily be found. — But I forbear. — I will only 
exhibit one specimen which falls under my 
notice while I am thus writing to you. Dr. 
Doyle, who swore before the Committee of 
the House of Lords, that he had a higher re- 
spect for the Established Church, than for 
any other body of Christians separated from 
the Church of Rome, has just expressed him- 
self, in his Letter to the Earl of Farnham, in 
the following handsome terms toward it. 
" When men gaze for a considerable time at 
" the most hideous monster, they can view it with 
" diminished horror; but a man of reflection, 
" living in Ireland, and coolly observing the 
" workings of the Church Establishment, would 
" seek for some likeness to it among the priests 
" of Juggernaut, who sacrifice the poor naked 

h 2 



100 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" human victims to their impure and detestable 
" idols:' 

The immediate exciting cause of this rabid 
fury in your favourite divine was the recent 
procedure at Cavan; it has had the effect of 
absolutely dementing him ; unless, indeed, he 
is influenced by a sort of perverted pride, 
which makes him eager to show to the world 
how much will be endured in him, before he is 
cast off by you and his other liberal friends in 
Parliament. For myself, when I see in him 
the fallen spirit of the Church of Rome, thus 
venting its impotent malice against that Re- 
formed Church, to which, in its own despite, it 
is compelled still to look up with respect and 
honour, I am reminded of another address on 
an occasion not totally dissimilar : 

" To thee I call, but with 

No friendly voice, 

to tell thee how I hate thy beams, 

That bring to my remembrance from what state 

I've fall'n, how glorious once, 

Till pride and worse ambition threw me down, 
Warring in Heav'n against Heav'n's matchless King!" 

III. I proceed to another of your arguments. 
" The doctrine of Absolution had also oc- 
(i casioned much objection. In the abstract 



ABSOLUTION. 



101 



" that doctrine was absurd" — I trust, Sir, that 
you meant to confine your censure to the ex- 
travagant doctrine of the Church of Rome; 
not to extend it (as your words seem to imply) 
to absolution generally ; for if the latter were 
intended, I am bound to tell you, that, in the 
plenitude of your parliamentary privilege, you 
have presumed to visit with your ban, one of 
the most solemn acts and declarations of our 
blessed Lord himself. After his resurrection 
from the dead, when " all power had been 
" given to Him in heaven and in earth," He 
conferred on his apostles, and in them on their 
successors to the end of time, the power of ab- 
solution, soberly and soundly understood. 

" In the abstract, that doctrine was absurd ; 
" but the evidence before the Committee of the 
" House of Lords went to prove, that the abso- 
" lution depended on the disposition of the party, 
" and not on the abstract power of the party 
" giving it." 

Sir, it is not easy to restrain my pen within 
the bounds, which I would wish to prescribe to 
it, when I reflect either on the foul deception 
practised in this particular by the Roman Ca- 
tholic bishops upon Parliament, or the de- 
plorable facility with which you, and men like 
you, permitted yourselves to be duped by 



102 



EFFECTS OF 



them. The real doctrine of the Church of 
Rome is this, that no disposition of the peni- 
tent, not even the deepest and most perfect 
contrition, will obtain for them absolution of 
their sins, without the serious purpose of having 
recourse for it to their priest. In that case, 
and in that case only, (of their perfect contri- 
tion, and their serious purpose of confessing to 
the priest and seeking his absolution,) the 
actual interposition of the priest is not ne- 
cessary. 

But consider how small a part of the way 
this carries us. The penitent may not judge 
for himself, whether his contrition be perfect: 
before he can have the comfort of knowing this, 
he must go to his priest, and receive the glad 
assurance from his mouth. 

The main mischief, however, is, that perfect 
contrition is not necessary. Imperfect contri- 
tion (consisting, for instance, of the fear of hell, 
the absence of the will of sinning, and the hope 
of pardon) are sufficient, with absolution, to wipe 
out all past guilt, and to ensure to the sinner 
his future admission to the everlasting happi- 
ness of heaven. Need I say what temptation 
to sin such a doctrine holds out? above all, 
what ruinous security of mind, what callous- 
ness of conscience, under the most aggravated 



ROMAN CATHOLIC ABSOLUTION. 103 

guilt, must be its practical result? That it has 
not its full effect in countries where better prin- 
ciples prevail, and the purer faith of the nation 
at large controuls and chastens the influence of 
the worst corruptions of the Church of Rome, 
may make those who live in such countries 
slow to credit the enormous extent of mischief 
produced by it, when suffered to have its full 
and unmitigated sway. But turn to the evi- 
dence before you, seek the truth, not in the 
" goodly glozes" of Dr. Doyle, but in the testi- 
mony of a man, who has no interests of an 
established Church to bias his judgment, or, if 
you will, to impair his credit, — of one, who has 
no interest whatever in the question, except the 
highest indeed, but that which is least likely to 
mislead him, the general interest of religious 
truth and liberty — turn to the evidence of Mr. 
Burnett, a dissenting minister, resident at Cork, 
and let him tell you what he has himself seen 
and known. " No Roman Catholic of the lower 
iC orders," says he, " has any dread of final per- 
" dition. I have spoken with them frequently on 
" the subject, and never found one of them that 
" supposed he could go to hell." " The confidence 
(( of the people in their absolution, which follows 
" confession, is such as completely to destroy in 
" their minds any fear of future punishment . I 



104 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



" have found this to be the case generally; and 
" in cases where they are convicted in courts 
" of justice, they very seldom show any thing 
" like a feeling sense of their situation; which, 
" I conceive, arises solely from the conviction, 
" that the absolution enjoyed at the hands of 
" the priest will do every thing for them. I 
" have seen, myself, thirty-Jive individuals in the 
" dock together, sentenced to death, and I could 
" not perceive the least degree of emotion in conse- 
" quence of the pronouncing of sentence, all which 
" I attributed to the confidence placed in the absolu- 
(i tion of the clergy."* 

Sir, I will not stop to confute your feeble at- 
tempt to prove that our own Church holds the 
same doctrine, with that of Rome, on this sub- 
ject. That I have sufficiently done in former 
publications: but I will once more ask you, 
whether you ever knew a single instance, in which 
the absolution of the Church of England has 
been perverted to the same mischievous pur- 
pose, as that which is proved to be the ordinary 
effect of the absolution of Romish priests upon 
the populace of Ireland? If you have not, does 
it become any judicious statesman, in the 
greatest practical question which can be pro- 

* Evidence before Lords, p. 470. 



GOOD WORKS. 



105 



posed to the deliberation of parliament, to 
argue on the supposition, founded or unfounded, 
of a mere theoretical accordance of the two 
Churches, while the practical results are so 
totally dissimilar ? 

IV. I turn to your fourth topic. 

" The next objection — and it was one which 
" he could not expect to have heard — was, 
" that the Roman Catholics attached an over- 
" weening value to the merits of good works." 

Sir, I will boldly venture to assert, and to 
appeal to your own better recollection for the 
truth of the assertion, that you never yet met 
with man, woman, or child, quite so silly, as 
to advance this objection, which you are pleased 
to honour with a most grave, laboured, histo- 
rical, theological, — and (need I add ?) triumphant 
reply. 

But how, it may be asked, can so portentous 
an hallucination have come over you ? I will 
here hazard a conjecture. It is not improbable, 
that in the course of your morning's reading, 
preparatory to a debate which was to crown 
your other high distinctions with the honours 
of a dilettanti degree in divinity, you happened 
to find, that one of the charges, sometimes 
brought against the Church of Rome, was the 



106 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



excessive value ascribed by it to the works of 
man. This theological objection you hastily 
mistook for a political one ! And how was it 
to be treated? A man of ordinary genius 
would have been content to say, that how- 
ever erroneous the tenet might be, its ob- 
vious tendency is, to render those, who hold it, 
good and useful subjects ; — that it is the height 
of injustice, therefore, to make it, in any degree, 
a plea for abridging their political privileges. 
But this was very far from satisfying your 
aspirations. You aimed at higher glory, than 
a dull matter-of-fact argument, however con- 
vincing, could bestow. You were pleased, 
therefore, to contrast the alleged error of the 
Church of Rome with what you, I doubt not, 
seriously believe to be a notion of the modern 
Calvinists. " Would it not, you say, be more 
" dangerous to a state to make good works 
" nothing, and faith every thing ? I prefer the 
" man, who insists on the necessity of good 
" works as part of his religious creed, to the 
" man, who considers himself controlled in all 
ct his actions by an inexorable fate." 

To the peculiar tenets of that denomination 
of Christians, to which you appear to allude, I 
am very far from subscribing : but thus much I 
will say, that no man, who knows what they 



CALVINISTS IN CHARLES I.'s TIME. 107 

really are, will ever treat them with contempt. 
You, Sir, do not appear to have yet risen above 
the vulgarest prejudices on this subject: else, 
you would have known, that opinions which 
have commended themselves to the full and 
firm conviction of some of the ablest, as well 
as holiest, men who have ever adorned our 
Church, are not to be thus blown down by 
" the whifT and wind" of the smartest piece of 
rhetoric ever discharged in your honourable 
House. 

But it may be said that you were not speaking 
of modern or sober-minded Calvinists, but of the 
wild opinions of the fanatics in Charles's time. 
" Refer to history, and see what it teaches on 
" the subject. Who were they who brought 
" the monarch to the block? Who stripped 
" episcopacy of the mitre, and of all its spiritual 
" authority and temporal possessions ? The 
"Papists? No: but they who were most 
" violently opposed to them." 

Your argument now stands thus ; because 
great mischief was inflicted on our Church and 
nation by one set of madmen two hundred 
years ago, therefore it is unjust or foolish, or 
both, to guard against the avowed hostility of 
another class of enemies in our own days — be- 
cause the Dutch fleet burned Chatham in the 



108 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



seventeenth century, therefore none of our 
dock yards ought to be protected against a 
French fleet in the nineteenth. 

I am afraid, Sir, we gain but little by this 
improvement of the argument. Leaving, there- 
fore, this very favourite piece of eloquence 
(for so the cheers which attended it prove it to 
have been) to the satisfaction of yourself and 
the admiration of your hearers, I will remind 
you of a real political objection against the 
Roman Catholics, founded on the value they 
attach to good works — but then it is to the 
good works of others, not their own — and con- 
sequently it has no tendency to improve either 
their loyalty or their morals. On the merit of 
the supernumerary satisfactions of departed 
saints, the doctrine of indulgences — remis- 
sions, that is, of the pains of purgatory — has 
been built. These indulgences have often 
been employed in Ireland as means to stimu- 
late and reward the disloyalty of the people to 
their heretical sovereigns. So late as the 
reign of George II., it is recorded in the Jour- 
nals of the Irish House of Commons, that 
money was raised by them for the express pur- 
pose of raising a force to expel the reigning 
family, and restore the House of Stuart, It 
is true, that some member of the late Com- 



INDULGENCES. 



109 



mittee affected to consider the statement as of 
no authority, because the same House of Com- 
mons had passed the well-known resolution 
against the agistment tithe ! — as if one act of 
injustice, not only vitiated all their other acts, 
but threw discredit on all their records. I am 
happy, however, to be enabled to confirm the 
truth of this record by independent testimony. 
De Bruys, a contemporary Roman Catholic 
historian, in his Life of Benedict XIII. , # says 
that that Pope, on the death of George I., 
" ordered public prayers, and granted indul- 
" gences for the success of the enterprise of the 
" Pretender." But enough of this. 

V. I pass with you to a matter of higher 
importance. " Neither do I see any valid ob- 
" jection," you say, " in the argument drawn 
" from the belief in the spiritual supremacy of 
" the Pope. The question is not, whether it is 
" acted upon by the (Roman) Catholics, but 
" whether it is acted on in such a way, as to 
" make it dangerous to the state." You then 
proceed to a lengthened vindication of the in- 
jured honour of Dr. Doyle, and take occasion 
to pronounce upon him a panegyric, which I 



* Hist, des Papes, c. v. p. 558. 



110 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



am quite sure we shall never hear from you 
again. That divine has, indeed, been lately 
pleased to spare both friend and foe all further 
trouble about his character : he has settled that 
matter for himself ; and it would henceforth be 

" with taper light 
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish," 

if any one else were to attempt to illustrate 
what he has made so very clear. 

But, Sir, the argument of Supremacy must, 
I fear, detain us a little longer than I could 
wish. 

Much confusion often arises on this point, 
from not sufficiently bearing in mind the very 
different foundations of papal authority, which 
are recognized in different countries. The 
French look to the councils of Constance, Pisa, 
and Basil, not only as truly cecumenical, but 
as having so fixed the superiority of councils 
over the Pope, and in other respects so limited 
his power, that not even the decrees of subse- 
quent councils, much less the constitutions of 
Popes themselves, can work any material 
change in the principles there established. But 
besides this general security, they procured for 
themselves what was called " the pragmatic 
sanction, 1 ' which recognized on the part of 



SUPREMACY OF THE POPE. 



Ill 



Rome a very large measure of independence in 
the Church of France ; and though this prag- 
matic sanction was afterwards displaced by a 
less favourable instrument, the concordat be- 
tween Francis I. and Leo X., — still the result 
has been the establishment of so strong a 
barrier against the worst usurpations of Rome, 
that the liberties of the Gallican Church have 
formed a proud exception to the general state 
of spiritual bondage, in which other countries of 
that communion have been all, more or less, 
enthralled. For by the rest, the acts of the 
councils, which I have mentioned above, (ex- 
cepting the decrees of Constance against 
heretics,) were all rejected ; and in their place 
the decrees of the Council of Florence (which 
was held by Eugenius IV. at the same time 
with the Council of Basil, and in express op- 
position to it) were universally received. Now, 
the Fathers of Florence ascribed so large and 
sweeping an authority to the Pope, that the 
French have not only uniformly refused to re- 
cognize this council as valid, but when at Trent 
there was an attempt to obtain the re-enact- 
ment of the Florentine Decree, the Cardinal of 
Lorraine and the other French prelates posi- 
tively declared, that they would quit the council, 



112 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



and protest against its decrees, unless the mea- 
sure were abandoned. 

From this statement it will appear, how very- 
fallacious it is, to quote, as is often done, the 
language of French jurists or divines, in parti- 
cular the famous declaration of the clergy of 
that church in 1682, as authority for the doc- 
trine of Roman Catholics in other countries on 
the supremacy of the Pope. To the latter, the 
following decree of Florence is the known and 
recognized standard of orthodoxy on this point. 
" We define, that the Holy Apostolic See, and 
" the Roman Pontiff, have a primacy over the 
" whole world, and that the Roman Pontiff 
" himself is the successor of St. Peter, the 
" chief of the Apostles, and true Vicar (or re- 
" presentative, TWolflgnfas) of Christ, and that 
" he is Head of the whole Church, and the 
" Father and Teacher of all Christians ; and 
" that to him in St. Peter was delegated by 
" our Lord Jesus Christ full power to feed, rule, 
" and govern the universal Church ; as also is 
" contained in the acts of general councils, and 
" in the holy canons." 

On the authority of this decree, it is not 
wonderful that the most inordinate extent of 
power has often been claimed by the Popes, 



SUPREMACY OF THE POPE. 



113 



and too often conceded to them. It is admitted 
by those who are most eager to soften the 
harsher features of the papal system, by Mr. C. 
Butler in particular, that the ultramontane doc- 
trine, as it is called, the assertion of the Pope's 
right to supreme power, whether direct or in- 
direct, in all the temporal concerns of states, 
the power of deposing sovereigns, of interfering 
with the rights and duties of subjects, may 
here find apparent support. That doctrine is 
not contradicted by any ecclesiastical authority; 
it is favoured at Rome; — and, everywhere else, 
it is tolerated by those who do not assent to it. 
We may be astonished at this ; we may think 
it impossible for any, who dissent from a doc- 
trine so pregnant with crime and mischief of 
the most gigantic kind, to esteem it worthy of 
toleration and endurance. But so it is : indi- 
viduals may disclaim the doctrine for them- 
selves, but, as we have already seen, they are 
not permitted to condemn it as contrary to 
religion.* 

* Isaac Barrow expresses himself on this matter in the fol- 
lowing unanswerable terms. " No man, apprehending it false, 
" seemeth capable with good conscience to hold communion 
" with those who profess it : for upon supposition of its false- 
" hood, the Pope and his chief adherents are the teachers and 
" abettors of the highest violation of divine commands, and the 



114 



MR. CANNING^ SPEECH. 



In England there are, I doubt not, few indi- 
viduals who persist in holding it ; but that in 
Ireland there are millions, who, if their priests 
will teach it to them, are most ready to receive 
it, is unhappily a point equally clear. And 
what security have we, that the priests will 
forbear to teach it ? If there be none, I think, 
Sir, that even you must admit, that this wide 
and indefinite tenet of the Pope's Supremacy, 
is both a valid and a strong objection against 
making further concessions to those who hold it. 

But the case rests not here. History for 
centuries past proves, that while in England 
the more extravagant notion on this subject 
was gradually losing its hold on every class of 
the people, it did in fact retain its ground in 

" most enormous sins, of usurpation, tyranny, imposture, per- 
" jury, rebellion, murder, rapine, and all the villainies compli- 
" cated in the practical influence of this doctrine. It seemeth 
" clear, as the sun, that if this doctrine be an error, it is one 
ei of the most pernicious heresies ever invented, involving the 
" highest impiety, and producing the greatest mischief. For, 
" if he that should teach adultery, incest, simony, theft, mur- 
" der, or the like crimes to be lawful, would be a heretick ; 
" how much more would he be such, that should recommend 
" perjury, rebellion, regicide, (things including wars, confu- 
" sions, slaughters, desolations, all sorts of injustice and mis- 
" chief,) as duties ? How then can any man safely hold com- 
" munion with such persons ?" — Treatise of the Popes Supre- 
macy, Introd. s. 6. 



BULL UN AM SANCTAM. 



115 



Ireland. Up to a very recent period, it has 
been maintained and acted upon there. Nay, 
at this very hour, by far the most shameless and 
audacious claim of papal power ever made, is 
admitted as a genuine and valid decree even 
by the Class-Book at Maynooth, — I mean the 
Bull of Boniface VIII. called Unam Sanctam.* 
This Bull, among other extravagancies, attri- 
butes to the Church, and the Pope its head, 
" two swords, the spiritual and the temporal — 
" the former to be used by the Church, the latter 
" for it: the former by the sacerdotal, the latter 
" by the regal and military hand, but at the nod 
" and sufferance of the priest : — as Jeremiah 
" says, Lo, I have set thee, this day, over nations 
" and kingdoms. Therefore if the earthly power 

* Of this Bull, Dr. Doyle, Essay on Catholic Claims, p. 38, 
says, " that it never received the assent of the Church/' and 
yet it was not at all resisted out of France ! " that it was re- 
" called by Clement V. (see Extravag. Meruit,)" and yet this 
very authority which he cites, instead of recalling, recognizes 
the Bull, while it grants, as a particular privilege to Trance, that 
no prejudices thence should arise to that kingdom or its sove- 
reign. " Meruit charissimi filii nostri Philippi, &c. sinceras 
tl affectionis ad nos et Ecclesiam integritas ; — meruit insuper 
" regnicolorum puritas, &c. ut tarn Regem quam Regnum 
81 favore benevolo prosequamur. Hinc est, quod nos Regi et 
" regno per definitionem et declarationem bona? memorise Boni- 
" facii Papae VIII., quae incipitUnam Sanctam, nullum volumus 
" vel intendimus prsejudicium generari." 

i 2 



116 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" go wrong, it shall be judged by the spiritual; 
" but the supreme power itself, by God alone. 
" Moreover we declare, define, and pronounce, 
" that it is altogether a point necessary to salva- 
" tion, for every creature to be subject to the 
" Roman Pontiff." 

This Bull, I repeat, is at this day held to be 
valid by the Class-Book at Maynooth ; but in 
order to escape from the consequence of thereby 
establishing the direct power of the Pope in 
temporals, it says, that " by the special Provi- 
" dence of God, though in the recital Boniface 
" had throughout spoken of the temporal power 
" of kings being subject to the Church, yet, 
" when he came to the defining and decreeing 
" part of the Bull, he abstains from specifying 
" temporals, and says, in general terms, to be 
" subject to the Roman Pontiff, which," it is 
added, " every Catholic admits in spirituals"* 
Such then is the doctrine now taught to the 
students who are training in the College at 
Maynooth for the ministry in Ireland, and those 
among them who shall follow their own com- 
mon sense, (which, be it remembered, they are, 
in this particular, freely permitted to do,) and 
shall understand the Bull of Boniface accord- 



* Tract, de Ecc. p. 266. 



SUPREMACY OF POPE. 



117 



ing to the plain meaning of the words, and the 
confessed intention of the writer, will here find 
a complete and infallible authority for preach- 
ing the supreme power of the Church in tem- 
porals in its fullest extent. 

But supposing that matters be not carried so 
far, let us see what is necessarily connected 
with the Supremacy of the Pope even in spiri- 
tuals. The decree of Florence calls him the 
Father and Teacher of all Christians, and 
ascribes to him the power to feed, and rule, 
and govern the Universal Church. He must, 
therefore, have a real and substantial jurisdic- 
tion, and authority, in every part of the Church, 
" a right," as Dr. Milner expresses it, " of ad- 
" dressing his doctrinal instructions and eccle- 
" siastical mandates to every portion of the 
" Church; which mandates do not derive their 
" authority from the acceptance of such portion 
" of the Church ; but if they are not opposed 
" by the Church at large, they are to be re- 
" ceived as coming from Christ himself."* 

Among other instances of the exercise of 
this right, was the Bull Unigenitus, of which I 
have already said something; but it is necessary 
to make one or two remarks upon it here. 

* Eccl. Dem. detected, p. 98, 



118 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



It is well known that the publication of this 
Bull, was only one of a series of measures de- 
vised at Rome, to counteract the effect of the 
Gallican Declaration of 1682. The condemna- 
tion of the 91st Proposition, which has been 
above noticed,* was designed to bring the whole 
Church into the closest subjection to the Pope : 
for with this weapon he could annihilate, at his 
pleasure, all the obligations imposed by any 
laws, natural or divine. The great majority of 
the clergy of France were eager to concur with 
the Pope. Louis XIV., enfeebled in mind and 
body, was carried by his superstitious terrors, 
and by the influence of the Jesuits, into the 
same course. But the Parliament of Paris, to 
their immortal honour, refused to register the 
letters-patent accepting the Bull, without at 
the same time making an express provision, 
inter alia, against the obvious meaning of that 
part of it which relates to excommunication. 
" The arret of the Parliament, 15 Feb. 1714, 
" enregisters the letters-patent and the Consti- 
" tution Unigenitus, but without approving 
" some of the decrees, not received in this 
" kingdom, enounced in the Constitution, &c. 

* See above, p. 50. The 91st condemned Proposition is, 
M That the fear of an unjust excommunication ought not to 
" deter us us from doing our duty." 



BULL UNIGENITUS. 



119 



" and without permitting that the condemna- 
" tion of the propositions which respect ex- 
" communication shall prejudice the maxims 
" and usages of the said kingdom, or that, under 
" pretext of the said Constitution, in points 
" respecting the fidelity and obedience due to 
" the king, the observance of the laws of the 
" state, and other real and certain duties, the 
" fear of an unjust excommunication shall be 
V suffered to hinder the subjects of the king 
" from performing them." 

Now, Sir, this, I contend, and I am sure you 
will agree with me, is not an explanation of the 
Bull, as is intimated by Dr. Murray,* but a 
protestation against it in those particulars in 
which it is inconsistent with the independence 
and safety of every government. It shows, 
that its obvious meaning was known and felt 
to be also its real meaning at the very time of 
its publication. And yet, in Ireland, this Bull, 
so pregnant with mischief, so ready an instru- 
ment of subjugating every one who admits its 
authority to the absolute dictation of his spiri- 
tual guide, is received and acknowledged with- 
out limitation or exception. 

But the Bull Unigenitus was not the only 



* Commons, p. 648. 



120 



PIUS V. CANONIZED 



measure adopted at Rome to further its designs. 
The legend of St. Gregory VII. was another 
expedient ; but this was so shameless and abo- 
minable, that it was universally* scouted on 
the continent of Europe, and found a refuge 
only in the land of Saints. There every Roman 
Catholic Priest is bound, under the penalty of 
mortal Sin, to read with due devotion the holy 
lessons of the day, containing the narrative of 
this heaven-born avenger of the Church's rights, 
this puller down and setter up of kings, to 
thank God for having given such a scourge to 
the world, and to call upon Him, in humble 
prayer, to grant that the " example may still 
" edify and strengthen the Church." 

Even this is not all. About the same time 
(in the year 1712) the canonization of Pius V., 
begun long before, was finally completed. This 
Saint, too, is worshipped in Ireland and in Eng- 
land; but what were the high virtues, " the 
(t heroic degree of charity," (such Mr. Butler 
tells us is requisite in this case,) which raised 
him to the celestial glory, and entitled him to 
the thankful commemoration, nay, to the wor- 
ship and adoration, of the subjects of the British 
Crown ? My readers will scarcely believe me, 

* It has since been admitted into the Spanish Breviary. 



FOR DEPOSING QUEEN ELIZABETH. 121 

when I say, that it was, among other things, 
his " unhesitating zeal in striking with his 
" dread anathema the impious heretic Eliza- 
" beth, the pretended Queen of England, the 
" slave of shameful vices, as a heretic, and the 
" favourer of Heretics, absolving her subjects 
" from their allegiance, and depriving herself, 
" by Pontifical authority, of her pretended right 
" to the throne of England." These things are 
expressed in these very terms in the Bull of 
Canonization ; and the Bull, moreover, com- 
mended the example of Pius as an object of 
imitation to every Bishop. 

Sir, I must think that a claim to supremacy, 
such as this, acknowledged and acted upon by 
all the ecclesiastics in communion with Rome, 
— entering into, and directing, their devotions 
— hallowed by association with all that is most 
sacred in their religion, — is not a matter to be 
treated with contempt. 

But there yet remains an observation on this 
point too important to be omitted. No Eng- 
lishman will deny, that cases may be put, when, 
in the exercise of the most awful responsibility 
that can be incurred, subjects are bound by 
their duty to God, to themselves and their pos- 
terity, to rise against their lawful sovereign, and 
assert those rights which tyranny would anni- 
hilate. 



122 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



Now, the doctrine of the Pope's supremacy 
tells us, that the power of determining when 
this awful moment is arrived belongs to the 
Church. Such not only was the language of 
Allen,* and others, but it is the language of 
living Roman Catholics, especially of one of the 
most truly liberal of his communion ; one, who 
viewed the tyranny and usurpations of the Pope 
with abhorrence, and whose manly resistance 
to the arrogant pretensions of the modern 
Church of Rome, drew down upon him the in- 
dignation and censures of his superiors, — I 
mean Dr. O'Conor: even he, (and if he, all 

* " What, after all, was that deposing power, with the 
" mention of which we are so much stunned, and the asserting 
" of which is supposed to be of such a heavy charge against 
" our early Divines ? Did these learned men ascribe to the 
4< Pope a higher civil, or temporal, authority in the kingdoms 
" of other Princes ? This is what Protestants and ill-instructed 
" and prejudiced Catholics suppose. But this is a gross error." 
" What then did they say, except what all Protestants have 
" said, that a manifest grievous persecution of the community, 
" for conscience sake, is an intolerable act of tyranny? The 
" whole difference is, that the Catholics of those times, instead 
" of deciding for themselves on so important and conscientious 
" a business, as Protestants in general claimed a right to do, 
" only then judged the case lawful, when an impartial and 
" equitable arbiter, the Ecclesiastical Superior, decided that it 
" was so, as Cardinal Allen argues." — Eccl. Dem. detected, 
p. 197. 



DANGER FROM POPES SUPREMACY . 123 

others, we may be sure,) affirms a principle 
directly tending to the violation of the sworn 
duty of the subject, and to the dependence of 
the Crown on the decisions of a foreign Pontiff. 
Thus he writes , # " There is but one difference 
" in this respect between the genuine doctrine 
" of Catholics and Protestants, and that is ex- 
" plained by an historical fact, applying to the 
" obligation of an oath. If oaths were to be 
" immutably and eternally binding, there never 
" could have been a revolution in England 
" without perjury ; for all magistrates and offi- 
" cers of the army and navy had taken the 
" Oath of Allegiance to James IT. But there 
" is a time when oaths cease to be binding, and 
" when that time comes, the Protestant declares 
" himself dispensed from their obligation. That 
" time did come, when James's tyrannical 
" government rendered that government into- 
" lerable to the English people, and then the 
" officers of the army and navy declared 
" themselves dispensed from the obligation of 
" their Oath. Now, in similar circumstances, 
" a Catholic officer would pause. True, he 
" would say, it appears to me, that I am now 
" acquitted from all obligation of allegiance ; 



* Columbanus, No. L p. 36. 



124 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



" but perhaps I judge too favourably in my 
" own cause, and I will submit it to the judgment 
" of the Church, whether I am, under these cir- 
" cumstances, absolved from my allegiance, or 
" not. The Church then only pronounces us 
" absolved from our oaths, when their obliga- 
" tion has already ceased." (But then the 
Church has authority to 'pronounce that their 
obligation has ceased : and this, in truth, is the 
marrow of the whole.) " No Pope, no Council, 
" can absolve or dispense, so long as the nature 
" and circumstances of the Oath are the same." 

Now, Sir, can any government be safe, if its 
subjects are thus at liberty to apply to any au- 
thority, foreign or domestic, to ascertain whe- 
ther, and when, their duty of allegiance has 
ceased ? Certainly, the danger is not lessened, 
but greatly increased, by that authority being 
ecclesiastical ; for a sacredness is thus thrown 
about it, which makes its responses infinitely 
more venerable and convincing, than any merely 
human sanctions could ever give. But the con- 
sideration of greatest moment in the account is 
this — that there is a specific quarter, to which 
resort may be had for the solution of the doubt. 
This must facilitate the application for the so- 
lution, and still more must facilitate and encou- 
rage the growth of the doubt itself. Where the 



DANGER FROM POPE'S SUPREMACY. 125 



conscience of the individual must decide, if he 
be indeed conscientious, he will, of course, be 
so deeply impressed with the sacredness of the 
obligation, under which his oath has laid him, 
that he will be eager to keep down every 
nascent surmise unfavourable to his sworn alle- 
giance : — nothing but the strongest and most 
palpable case of tyranny will overcome his 
honest scruples. But if there be an Ecclesias- 
tical Superior, who can authoritatively pro- 
nounce on the validity of his surmise, he feels 
himself quite at liberty to give it a full and free 
vent : to communicate it to that superior, and 
in communicating to set it forth in the strongest 
colours, and so to confirm and augment its 
native force. Besides, if there were no external 
quarter to which to have recourse for solution 
of such doubts, every individual must be in- 
clined to keep them to himself, until the case 
be of so grave and overpowering a necessity, as 
to unite the whole mass of the people in one 
common feeling. 

On all these, as well as other accounts, the 
doctrine of the Supremacy of the Pope is one 
which must make every wise legislature, par- 
ticularly every Protestant legislature, cautious 
how they increase the power of those who hold 
it. And can this seem of little moment, when 



126 MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 

Irish Roman Catholic Bishops — who, to the 
mass of their people, must appear to speak with 
authority scarcely less sacred than that of the 
Pope himself— are describing an intolerable 
tyranny as even now exercised by the Govern- 
ment of their own land ? 

VI. Would that we heard such sentiments from 
them only ! Is it possible, that you could deli- 
berately permit yourself to give the high sanc- 
tion of your example to language so violent and 
inflammatory ? that you should be one of the 
prime instigators to insurrection and rebellion ? 
Sir, I ask these questions, because if there be 
any one cause, which, more than another, will 
justify resistance to established Government, it 
is religious persecution — yet this is precisely 
the act of tyranny, which you are pleased to lay 
to the charge of the Government of this land. 

" It was said, as another objection to the 
" concession of any political power to the 
" (Roman) Catholics, that they were, in Ire- 
" land, under the guidance of men whom they 
" regarded with veneration bordering on ido- 
latry. He admitted the fact; but he laid 
" the blame on another quarter. If they were 
" idolatrous in their devotion to their priests, 
" we were to blame; if they bowed down be- 



PERSECUTION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS. 127 

" fore Idols, it was our persecution which set 
" them up." Sir, I hold it extremely unfair, to 
weigh in very nice scales the words which an 
orator may let fall in the ardour of debate and 
under the impulse of excited feelings. I should 
be ashamed of myself, if I could catch at a 
single insulated phrase, however intemperate, 
and make it the subject of captious criticism, 
much more of affected indignation. But, un- 
happily, in the present instance, there is no- 
thing in the whole course of your speech to 
redeem the imprudence of this most dangerous 
expression. On the contrary, there is much 
to aggravate its mischief, and to give to it the 
air of genuine and deliberate choice. " Could 
<e it be expected, " you demand, " that the 
" Catholics would rest contented under the 
" stigma of their present numerous political 
" disabilities ? Was it to be imagined, that 
" they would go about without repining at 
" those badges of degradation which the penal 
" code hung about them ?" " Could Ireland be 
" allowed to remain in her present state ; or 
" would it be wise, or politic, to call on her to 
" bow down and worship that Constitution from 
" the benefits of which she was excluded?" 

Charges such as these, idle, and, I had 
almost, said, contemptible as they are in them- 



128 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



selves, acquire a real and grave importance, 
when it is remembered from what quarter they 
proceed. I must, therefore, submit to the 
mortifying task of defending our Laws and Go- 
vernment from the reproaches with which you 
are pleased to vilify them. I shall do this, not 
by argument — that would be too mortifying, — 
but by testimony, the testimony of those whom 
you have held forth to us, as the miserable vic- 
tims of oppression and persecution. 

Dr. Troy, in a pastoral letter dated Dublin, 
25th May, 1798, makes a warm and handsome 
eulogy on the large share of civil, political, and 
religious rights with which the Roman Catho- 
lics were now legally invested. But another 
prelate, Dr. Moylan, expresses the same senti- 
ments so much better, that I would prefer 
making use of his words. " I would have 
" you," says he, addressing the Roman Catho- 
lics of his diocese, Cork, 16th April, 1798, " I 
" would have you not unmindful of the bless- 
" ings you enjoy, and the favours you have re- 
" ceived : certain privileges excepted, you pos- 
" sess the advantages of the Constitution. The 
" penal laws under which our fathers groaned, 
" have been almost all done away. (Really this is 
by anticipation an answer to the very letter of 
all you have thought fit to say on this subject.) 



PERSECUTION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS. 129 

" You have the comfort of exercising your holy 
"religion without controul; and to the be- 
" nignity of government and the liberality of 
" Parliament, we are indebted for the establish - 
" ment and endowment of a Roman Catholic 
" College, on an extensive plan, which will 
" afford a liberal education to our youth, and 
" a supply of clergy to our Church, when the 
" present generation have finished their career." 
(Horrible persecution!) " These are favours 
" that should excite and call out all our gratitude ; 
" and this gratitude we should evince by a 
" steady attachment to the Constitution and un- 
" shaken loyalty to our gracious Sovereign, — a 
" sovereign, who has done more for the Roman 
" Catholic Body, and, indeed, for this kingdom 
" in general, than any or all of his pre- 
" decessors." 

You, Sir, will not be able to read language 
such as this, without deploring the lamentable 
degradation, to which the existing penal code 
had thirty years ago reduced its victims ; they 
were, it seems, so far debased by it, that they 
could even hug their chains, and fancy them- 
selves happy, till Mr. O'Connell, and Mr. Cob- 
bett, and Mr. Canning, (have we lived to witness 
the association ?) in the overflowing torrent of 
their benevolence, have kindly assured them 

K 



130 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



that they are perfectly miserable. To call on 
Ireland to value the Constitution, in her pre- 
sent state, is, according to you, " to suppose 
C( her either utterly incapable of appreciating 
" the benefits of emancipation ," (shade of William 
Pitt ! does he who calls himself your disciple, 
dare so to abuse that word ?) " or altogether 
" unworthy of it." And yet, Sir, so late as the 
16th of March, 1821, you were yourself so in- 
sensible to the wrongs of that injured country, 
that you could thus speak of the condition in 
which the laws have placed her. " From that 
" time (1774) the system was progressively 
" mitigated, until the year 1793, which crowned 
" and consummated the gift of civil liberty, and left 
" only political concession imperfect." 

But why do I dwell on the testimony of 
words — even your own recorded words, — to 
confute this unseemly charge against the laws 
and constitution of your country. Let me 
rather look to what ought to be, and, I doubt 
not, really is, a surer evidence of your genuine 
sentiments than any words can afford — I mean, 
the tenor of your public life. 

For twelve years after the first mooting of 
this question in 1800, not once did we hear 
from you any remonstrance on the persecution 
of Ireland. On the contrary, though your 



MR. CANNING IN 1807. 



131 



mind was made up as to the expediency of 
satisfying her moderate claims, under real and 
efficient restrictions, yet you never, during that 
whole period, gave to those claims even the 
benefit of your silent vote, but were repeatedly 
numbered in the ranks opposed to them. When 
in 1807 our late revered King, acting under the 
genuine influence of a righteous conscience, 
deprived his old age of the counsels of a mi- 
nistry whose talents he could not but respect, 
and some of whose members he always regarded 
with warm and confiding attachment, — when, at 
that crisis of his earthly hopes and comforts^ he 
cast himself on the love and loyalty of his 
people, and called on them to sustain him in 
the defence, as he avouched it to be, of the 
Protestant Religion and the ancient Constitu- 
tion of his country, — you, Sir, were among the 
foremost to answer to his call. You gave to 
him the full benefit of your powerful services, 
and thus largely contributed to the triumph of 
that very cause, which you now think proper 
to designate by the name of persecution. 

Do I blame you for this ? do I cast it in your 
teeth?' No, Sir, I honour you for your manly 
firmness in standing by your good old King, 
when he was beset with difficulty and danger, 
when, for the first time since the downfal of the 

k2 



132 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



Monarchy in 1648, he was arraigned for his 
own personal acts before the tribunal of Parlia- 
ment, when he could offer to his servants no- 
thing but the prospect of an arduous and most 
doubtful struggle, of short-lived honours, and of 
mortifying, though not inglorious, defeat. That 
you sought the invidious eminence to which you 
were then raised, I do not believe; I believe, 
rather, that in accepting office, under such cir- 
cumstances, you yielded to a sense of public 
duty, to that just confidence in a good cause, 
which " makes ambition virtue," which gives 
courage even to the timid, but nerves the manly 
spirit to a tone of vigorous and energetic action, 
commensurate with the high exigence which 
calls it forth. But, Sir, while I honour you 
sincerely, and from my heart, for your conduct 
on that trying occasion, it is only on the sup- 
position, that, however you might differ from 
your Sovereign's judgment, you were satisfied 
that his scruple was worthy of your respect. 
Such it could not have been, had you deemed 
it to be founded on injustice and persecution. 
In that case, it would have been your duty to 
him, no less than to yourself, to have declined 
his services, to have remonstrated against his 
prepossessions, to have told him, that, while you 
honoured his sincerity, you were bound to warn 



PERSECUTION OF ROMAN CATHOLICS. 



133 



him of the unrighteous and unholy end of all 
his solicitude. 

Such, Sir, must have been your conduct, had 
you then entertained the opinion of this ques- 
tion, which you now proclaim. — You would not 
have waited till your sovereign's virtual de- 
cease, — till you no longer were his minister, — to 
call on Parliament to perform this tardy act of 
justice to your persecuted countrymen.* — nor 

* I am tempted to add the following testimony of the per- 
secuted state of the Irish. 

Mr. Grattan. — " If you want to form a judgment of the 
" character and capacities of Ireland, look to what she has 
f f effected in the short space of twenty-five years. In that 
" short period, the people added one-third to her commerce, 
" increased her revenue five-fold, gave an accession of one third 
" to her population, and have besides acquired a free trade, and 
" a free constitution. These are the barbarous accomplishments 
" of Ireland. The Catholics of Ireland have a trial by jury — 
" are admissible to all offices, but the highest offices in the state, 
" but, above all, are a constituent part of the country, — these 
" are the rights which they possess, and these rights they 
" would not surrender to the kings of England, nor will they 
" surrender them to an enemy. These facts afford the best 
" proof of the highly civilized and improved state of Ireland, 
" and afford the best picture of that brave people, who have been 
"so cruelly stigmatized. " — Pari. Deb. May 25th, 1808, 
p. 570. 

Mr. Canning. — <c The Roman Catholics of Ireland are a 
" loyal people : and they share with all their countrymen the 



134 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



would you, as you did in 1813, have rejected 
every other solace of their misery, every other 
relief from the cruel bondage in which millions 
were holden, because the great and opulent few 
among them were refused a seat in our Protes- 
tant Legislature. 

But I have dwelt too long on this — let me 

" qualities of generosity of heart, and warmth of feeling, 
" and deep sensibility to kindness. They cannot, therefore, 
" but acknowledge their obligations to a sovereign, whose 
" reign, a contrast therein to that of his predecessors, has been 
" one continued series of concessions and relaxations in their 
" favour ; and if those concessions and relaxations had arrived 
u at a point, beyond which not the policy, but the conscience 
" of the monarch would not suffer him to go, they would 
" surely have respected in him those rights of conscience, 
" which they claim for themselves," &c. 

After describing the penal system — " Such was the system, 
" to which we gave a trial. Happily it failed, and we have 
" come back from this barbarous system to one of good policy 
" and of humanity. We have acknowledged the erroneous 
" severity of our ancestors, by the successive repeal of much 
" the greater part of the code, which pressed upon our Catholic 
a fellow- subjects. We have done this : and have we any 
" reason to repent of it ? Has not the growth of Irish pros- 
" perky kept pace with that of Catholic happiness and freedom 9 

" I am willing to agree with you, that we have gone so far, 
" that we ought not to proceed further, without such securities, 
" as may be reasonably required, and as are necessary for the 
" preservation of our own Protestant Establishments." — Pari. 
Deb. April 24th, 1812, p. 103L 



POWER OF PRIESTS. 



135 



turn to the consequence which you ascribe to 
this bitter persecution. — " It has made the 
" Roman Catholic people of Ireland the idola- 
" trous worshippers of their Priests." 

Sir, Doctor Moylan has told us that four and 
thirty years ago every thing of what he deemed 
persecution, even in theory, had ceased: in 
practice, it had ceased before. But during this 
long period, the power of the Priesthood has 
not been shaken, — till within the last few 
months, when another sort of persecution has 
commenced, a persecution which Dr. Doyle has 
gravely proclaimed to be more intolerable than 
the penal code in all its matured severity, I 
mean the persecution of reason, and the diffu- 
sion of the Scriptures. It its plain, therefore, 
that the cause, which you assign, cannot be the 
real one. But did you ever trouble yourself to 
inquire, whether there be anything in the Ro- 
man Catholic system itself, which will account 
for the wonderful empire held by the Priesthood 
over the understanding and feelings of their 
people, wherever, as in Ireland, that system is 
counteracted by no external cause, but is per- 
mitted to act with full and unimpaired activity ? 
If not, you will not, perhaps, be sorry, to be 
presented with some particulars here. 

I will not carry you back to distant ages, nor 



136 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



harass you with a disquisition on the canons of 
ancient councils — my authorities shall be all 
of the present day, taken from books of high 
reputation among the living members of the 
Church of Rome. 

The very first principle of that Church is, 
that not the Scriptures of God,, but " the teach- 
ing authority of the successors of the Apostles" 
(so it is expressed by Mr. Berington*) is " the 
rule of its Faith." These successors of the 
Apostles are, as I need not inform you, the 
Bishops ; but you probably are not aware, that 
they are regarded as of equal authority with the 
Apostles themselves. Dr. Baines, Bishop of Siga, 
the present Vicar Apostolic of the Western 
District, in a sermon which he preached and 
published only last year, has the following pas- 
sage: — " With respect to the Apostles them- 
" selves, you will readily admit, that there was 
" an obligation of believing their doctrines. 
" Would any of you have ventured to contra- 
" diet St. Paul to his face ? to tell him, that 
<f you did not understand the Bible in the sense 
" he taught, and that you had a right to explain 
" its meaning for yourselves ? Would he have 
" acquiesced in your claims ? Would he not 
" rather have pronounced upon you the anathe- 

* " Faith of Catholics," &c. by Beriagton and Kirke, 1813, 



POWER OF PRIESTS. 



137 



" ma, which he declared he would pronounce 
" even upon an Angel from Heaven, who should 
" teach doctrines different from those which he 
" had preached ? But why, let me ask, should 
" the Apostles be entitled to an obedience, 
" which is refused to their successors ? The 
" Catholic Church believes, that the same sub- 
" mission is due to the lawful successors of the 
" Apostles in the first, the second, and the nine- 
" teenth century, as was due to the Apostles 
" themselves" In conformity to this doctrine, 
they are held to be, in such a sense, the autho- 
ritative Interpreters of Scripture, that no one 
may follow the light of his own understanding 
against any of their declared interpretations. 
If the Church were to declare it to be accord- 
ing to Scripture, that an heretical monarch 
should be deposed, its members would be bound 
to believe, that such is the doctrine of Scrip- 
ture, though they might be unable to discern* 
it there. 

* Mr. O'Sullivan in his evidence before the Commons, p. 462, 
gives the following account of a conversation he had held with 
a Roman Catholic gentleman of considerable intelligence: — - 
" I said to him, suppose that the Pope and Council announced 
" that the King of England was a person that should be de- 
" posed, would you feel in conscience bound, as a Roman Ca- 
" tholic, to obey ? He answered, certainly not, because it would 



138 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



In accordance with the same principle, the 
Scriptures themselves are held to be not only- 
no more than a part, but also by no means a 
necessary part, of the word of God. Thus 
writes Mr. Berington — " We are not at liberty 
" to think, that the truths preached by the 
" Apostles would not have remained, to the end 
" of the world, pure and unaltered, had it never 
" seemed good to any of those apostolic men, 
" as it did to St. Luke, to commit to "writing 
" what they had learned."* And Dr. Milner 
says, " The Christian doctrine and discipline 
" might have been propagated and preserved 
" by the unwritten word, or tradition, joined 
" with the authority of the Church, though the 
<e Scriptures had not been composed"^ As a con- 
sequence of this, " the Catholic reader will now 
" be sensible," says Mr. Berington, " should 
" any point of his belief seem to receive little 
" support, or even no support, from any text 

" be contrary to Scripture. I asked, whether he or his Church 
" was to be the judge of Scripture, he said, his Church . Then, 
" I asked, if the decree xvas so worded, that the Pope and Council 
" affirmed it to be not contrary to, but according to Scripture, 
a that an heretical monarch should be deposed, how would you 
" act } He admitted that he would feel himself bound by the de- 
" cree, because it was for the Pope to judge of Scripture, and 
" that, as a Roman Catholic, he should obey him," 

* P. xiv. f End of Controversy, p. 82. 



MR. DONELAN'S EVIDENCE. 



139 



" of Scripture, that its truth is not thereby 
" affected" (he must mean, the duty of believ- 
ing it to be true,) " as its divine origin from 
" Christ, and its descent from the Apostles, 
" remain the same." If a person should con- 
clude that " such an article rested not on au- 
" thority equally strong with another, which 
" has numerous proofs from Scripture in its 
" favour, he would palpably err as a Catholic." 
p. viii. 

That in a country, where these principles are 
allowed their free sway, the Scriptures should 
be neglected, and in many instances utterly 
unknown, is only a matter of course. Mr. 
Done! an, a Roman Catholic gentleman, nephew 
of Lord Fingal, one of the Inspectors of the Kil- 
dare Place Schools, states in his evidence* before 
the Commissioners of Education, " that the 
" peasantry could scarcely distinguish between 
" a Testament and any other book of the same 
" size on a religious subject; that in Connaught 
" the peasant does not know what a Bible or Testa- 
" ment is" " I think (he adds) we may say, in 
" general, they do not understand that the 
" Bible contains the Word of God, the History 
" of Our Saviour, the History of the Creation* 
" and the Redemption of the World." 

* P. 488. 



140 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



Another witness* informs the Commissioners, 
that he " had met with a great many who never 
" saw or heard of the Scriptures; some did not 
" know what he was speaking about, when 
" speaking of the Bible; at last they cried, Oh 
" Y es > Y ou are speaking about the Black Book. 
" Some of them think that Luther was the author 
" of it." " In an investigation, which occupied 
" nearly three whole days, (says Mr. Gordon,!) 
" during which I entered as many cabins as 
" that time would admit, only one copy of the 
" Scriptures was found, a Protestant Testa- 
" ment, that belonged to a child in attendance 
" on a Protestant school; the persons in the 
" cabin were afraid to touch it; they handed it 
" down upon a board — because they thought it 
" an heretical book." 

That this ignorance is encouraged by the 
Church of Rome as highly serviceable to its in- 
terests, is manifest not merely from the Encycli- 
cal Letter of the Pope, to which I have already 
referred, J but also from the conduct of the 
Priests, as narrated in the evidence before these 
Commissioners : — " One lad, of nineteen, told 
me," says Captain Pringle, " if we read that 
" black book, the Priest tells me we shall be 

* Captain George Pringle, p. 686. 

t P. 716. 

\ See above, p. 68. 



IMPLICIT FAITH. 



141 



" visited with thunder and lightning." " The 
" Roman Catholic Clergy," says another wit- 
ness,* " have denounced the Irish Scriptures 
" from the altar in Kerry and Meath, and have 
" called our New Testament, because it is in 
" some instances bound in black, the Black Book, 
" and have produced it as such in its black 
" coat, connecting it with the powers of dark- 
" 7zess" 

So much for the rule of Faith in the Church 
of Rome, and the ignorance which it has in 
itself a tendency to produce, and does, in fact, 
produce in Ireland. A corollary from this prin- 
ciple, is the duty of implicit faith: I mean that 
men should be ready to believe every tenet 
which the Church holds, whether they under- 
stood it or not, nay, whether their reason assents 
to it or not. " The body of the faithful," says Mr. 
Gandolphy,t " are essentially disqualified from 
"judging of points of doctrine, — in quality of 

* H. M. Mason, Esq. p. 746. 

f Vol. iv. p. 307. I have before said, that at Rome Mr. 
Gandolphy's volumes are pronounced, by authority, to be wor- 
thy of being " cased in cedar and gold." I now add, that they 
were at the same time characterized as a work " truly worthy 
" of a Catholic Missioner, eminently calculated to confirm Ca- 
" tholics in their faith, as well as to bring back to the bosom of 
" our holy Mother, the Church, those who are gone astray." 



142 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" sheep, in their state of dependence, they are to 
" be enlightened by the Shepherd of the flock. 
" Thus none can ever err.'" " A Catholic finds 
" not more difficulty in assenting to any truth 
* the Church proposes to him, as an article of 
" faith, than he would in admitting the oral tes- 
" timony of God himself!"* " If you say, we 
" know you are of the Mother Church, and 
" come in a direct line of succession from the 
" Apostles, yet we cannot consent to receive 
" your doctrine as the word of God, — I insist, 
" my brethren, that you are not aware, that, by 
" this conduct, you transfer to yourselves the 
cc whole of that responsibility which attaches to 
(( your Pastors: and why unnecessarily consent to 
" carry a burthen, which God had exclusively 
" laid on their shoulders. If you erred before, 
" the sin was their % — and why make it your 
" own ? Only called upon to follow, (who hears 
" you hears me, says Jesus Christ,) the justice 
" of Heaven would not condemn your involun- 
" tary error of obedience. Whereas, if you 
<( undertake to judge for your pastors, you 
" obviously resist the messengers of Christ — 
" and if wrongly, — and God is my witness you 
" would very wrongly, — what a weight of re- 



* Vol.i. p. 197. 



PRIESTS BEAR THE PART OF CHRIST. 143 

" sponsibility would you carry with you to the 
"judgment-seat of Christ?"* Nor is this li- 
mited to points of faith — " The exercise of 
" moral virtues" Mr. Gandolphy tells his people, 
" must be regulated, as we regulate our faith, 
" by submission to the approbation of the 
" Church."t 

And here another most important source of 
power to the Priesthood, is presented to our 
view. At least once in every year every Roman 
Catholic must, under the penalty of mortal sin, 
give an account of his moral conduct, confess 
all his offences to his spiritual pastor, and await 
at his lips the sentence of pardon, or the awful 
declaration that his sins are still retained. I 
will not dwell on so plain a matter ; but will 
content myself with citing from the Class Book 
at Maynooth a passage, which will prove, be- 
yond the power of comment to heighten its 
effect, the hideous excess to which the minis- 
ters of that Church in Ireland are taught to 
extend their claims on the awe and reverence 
of the people. It is an acknowledged principle 
that " whatever a Priest knows, in the way of 
" confession, he knows it not as man, but as 
" acting the part of ChriM himself'' Hence, 

* Vol. i. p. 232. Compare this passage cited above, p. 53. 
f Vol. ii. 103. 



144 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" the following maxim has the unanimous assent 
" of all divines. If a priest be questioned by a 
" magistrate, respecting matters of which he 
" has had knowledge only from confession, he 
" ought to answer that he knows them not, 
" nay, even to swear that he does not ; and, in 
" doing this he is in no danger of lying. The 
" reason is (juxta Estium) because he does not 
" lie, nor equivocate, who answers according 
" to the mind of the person, who questions 
" him, and advances nothing but the truth ; but 
" this is the case of the priests under such cir- 
" cumstances, for he is not questioned by the 
" judge, as to what he knows by way of con- 
" fession, as he bears the part of God, quatenus 
" Dei vices agit, but what he knows, as man, 
" and therefore out of confession."* 

* De Poen. p. 286. I must here add what follows. " But 
" if the Judge presses further,, and specially asks, whether he 
" knows this from confession, some say, that the answer of the 
" Priest, even upon oath, ought still to be the same, that he 
" knows it not, because the Judge, whether he will or not, 
" cannot ask the Confessor a question, except as he is man. 
" But the more common opinion, and that which should be 
" observed in practice is, that in such circumstances the Con- 
" fessor must say, that he cannot give any answer to this ques- 
u tion." The reason is (a most curious one, not that he will 
thus avoid perjuring himself, but) " that this answer alone 
" consults at once for the seal of Confession, and the reverence 
" of the Sacrament." 



POWER OF PRIESTS. — ABSOLUTION. 145 



Of confession I will say no more. Of absolu- 
tion I will repeat, that the actual reception of 
it is deemed absolutely necessary for the salva- 
tion of a sinner, unless he have perfect contrition, 
in which case his wish for the sacrament will 
suffice ; but then, as I have already said, no 
penitent can know of himself, whether his con- 
trition be indeed perfect, — this can be pro- 
nounced only by the Priest. As Dr. Baines, in 
the sermon cited by me before, distinctly says, 
'* The Catholic Church requires that the sinner 
" confess his guilt to the minister of religion, 
" in order that the latter may ascertain, whe- 
" ther his penitent possess the requisite qualifica- 
" tions" So entirely, therefore, is the ever- 
lasting happiness of the people placed at the 
mercy of the Priests. In connection with the 
security of the state, it is important to add, 
that this very Class Book for the instruction of 
the Irish Priesthood, tells them, that there is 
nothing in the nature of the sacrament, which 
prevents the Priest from absolving persons 
from sins, in which he himself has been an accom- 
plice : — that Benedict XIV. did indeed order 
that in one class of sins, those against the sixth 
Commandment (our seventh) no Priest should 
absolve, except in articulo mortis, a person 



146 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



with whom he has himself been guilty.* But 
this very order proves, if proof be necessary, 
that in all other cases, even murder, rebellion, 
and treason, they retain the power: — a most 
satisfactory hearing to any Protestant Govern- 
ment, who has reason to suspect the loyalty of 
its Roman Catholic Clergy. 

Sir, I must not wholly omit to notice the 
power of excommunication as one of the most 
efficacious causes and instruments of the tyranny 
of the Irish Priesthood. Excommunication, I 
need not say, is a sentence of absolute exclusion 
from all the rites and sacraments of the Church 
— and that, in the estimation of every sincere 
member of the Church of Rome, it is therefore 
an absolute exclusion from the means of grace, 
and from the hopes of Heaven. 

This sentence cannot, according to the prin- 
ciples of that Church, be pronounced by any 
but the Bishop, or delegate of the Bishop. Yet 
in Ireland the parish Priests are continually in 
the habit of exercising a power short of formal 
excommunication, but which has almost equal 
effect on the terrified minds of the people ; and, 
what is not less worthy of remark, the Bishops 
are in the habit of contemplating the exercise 



* P. 262. 



PRIEST'S CURSE. 



147 



of this power in perfect silence.* It is called 
" the Priests curse." 

I am not ignorant, that in the examination')" 
of Drs. Murray, Kelly and Doyle, before the 
Commissioners of Education Enquiry, all those 
Prelates denied most solemnly, that this phrase 
was familiar to them. By what process they 
enabled themselves to give this answer, is more 
than I can presume to guess. That the prac- 
tice is common, whatever become of the name, 
may be elicited from that very examination 
itself. 

* P. 783. 

f There is some matter so curious in this examination, that 
I must extract it : — Dr. Doyle had said " that if any Priest 
<e under his direction had done so, he should reprimand him in 
" the most severe terms for abusing his office ; for our duty is 
" to bless and not to curse." Presently, he thinks better of 
this answer, and, for the ease of his conscience, informs his 
examiners, that a Priest of his had once written to him appris- 
ing him of his having prohibited some great scandal under the 
pain of the curse of God. — / did not reprehend that Priest, 
says Dr. Doyle, for he appeared to be conscious of hating acted 
with a degree of impropriety , and I thought the feeling existing in 
his mind was a sufficient security against his doing so again. 
Did the letter convey to you the impression that the Priest was 
himself sensible he had erred in what he had done ? — He was 
under the impression, that I might learn it, aud would repri- 
mand him probably with severity, &c. as to whether he thought 
he was doing wrong, I cannot say. As far as his flock is con- 

L 2 



148 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



Dr. Doyle is asked — Do you not believe it 
is common in many parts of Ireland, that that 
does take place from the altars on the part of 
the Priest, as applied to the people? and he 
answers th as — I should fear too of ten. But on 
this subject we have other testimony, and of 
the most respectable kind, that of Mr. Donelan, 
the same Roman Catholic gentleman whom I 
have cited before. " When a person is said to 
" be cursed from the altar, does it mean an 
" announcement of the intention of refusing 
" those rites (absolution, churching women, 
" sacraments to the dying)?" — " A curse is 
" something beyond that; what the poor people 

cerned, they are still in ignorance, whether it was with your 
approbation ? — My flock know me too well to suppose I would 
approve of it. They do not know of the letter he has written 
to you, showing his feeling on the subject ? — They are in igno- 
rance of that, I suppose ; but if such a proceeding were repeated, 
they know that they should meet with redress, on making 
application to me. How can they know that ? — Because they 
know in many instances, that where they had any reasonable 
complaint of the conduct of a clergyman, on representing it to 
me, I have ahvays interfered. But this having occurred, and 
no complaint having been made by the parishioners to you, 
how are they aware that you would interfere ? — I think the 
thing is so wrong in its own nature, that it must strike almost any 
Christian, that I disapprove of a Priest, appointed to minister be- 
tween the people and God, converting his ministry into a curse. 



priest's curse. 



149 



" conceive of the curse of the Priest" (this lay- 
man, it seems, is familiar with the phrase, 
whatever may be the ignorance of the Arch- 
bishops, as stated by them upon oath ) " is, that 
" it icill bring down the vengeance of Heaven in 
" every respect ; the vulgar expression is, that 
" they will have neither luck nor grace."* 
Captain Pringle,t and Mr. Gordon, J give 
instances, which fell within their own know- 
ledge of preternatural effects ascribed to the 
curse of the Priest. 

But if the sworn testimony of Drs. Murray 
and Kelly could have been sufficient to induce 
a doubt of the existence of this practice, that 
doubt has been removed by the history of the 
last few months. Mr. Maxwell, in his printed 
address to the Electors of the County of Cavan, 
thus appeals to the testimony of their own 
senses — " You beheld the Roman Catholic pas- 
" tors march into the County Town at the head 
" of their respective flocks. You heard them de- 
" nouncing eternal damnation against every one 
" who withheld his support from their favourite 
candidate ;" and Lord George Beresford makes 
this one of the grounds of his protest at the 
Waterford Election, " that the freedom of 



* P. 494. 



t p. 703. 



% p. 718. 



150 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



" election was grossly violated by intimidation 
" and threats of ecclesiastical censures, and 
" of excommunication, used by the Catholic 
" Clergy at this election, &c. and by the actual 
" excommunication of several freeholders on ac- 
" count of voting for him."* 

Yet, notwithstanding the notoriety of these 
and other similar proceedings, we have not 
heard of a single instance, in which any one of 
these Clergy was called to account by his eccle- 
siastical superiors for what Dr. Doyle has de- 
signated as " a thing so wrong in its own nature, 
" that it must strike every Christian," namely, 
" that a Priest, appointed to minister between 
" the people and God, should convert his mi- 
" nistry into a curse." And while the bishops 
have thus looked on in silence, the laity, even 
in England, have given their sanction to this 
exercise of spiritual authority in temporal mat- 
ters, by returning solemn thanks to them for 
their exemplary zeal and services. 

*■ It is curious, but painful, to remark the uniformity of con- 
duct which, at almost all periods, has been preserved by the 
Roman Catholic Clergy in Ireland. In the reign of James I., 
at a time of great excitement, a new parliament was sum- 
moned, and Leland tells us, that " the Clergy preached the 
" cause of religion, and denounced their excommunications on 
" those, who should presume to vote against the friends of the 
" Roman Catholic Church."— i. 446. 



POWER OF PRIESTS. — MR. GANDOLPHY. 151 

But, Sir, the utmost extent of power claimed 
by them, and reverence addressed to them, 
does not exceed the fair and reasonable infer- 
ences from the principles of their Church. Mr. 
Gandolphy, in the work for which he has re- 
ceived so flattering testimonies of approbation 
from Rome, thus speaks of the dignity of his 
Priesthood. " Fifty thousand Bethsamites were 
" slain in one day, for failing to show due re- 
" spect to the Ark; and Oza fell dead before it, 
" for venturing to touch it with a profane hand. 
" If such was the awful respect exacted by God 
" towards what were only the figures of our 
" institution, mark the high consideration in 
" which you ought to hold the living Priests of 
<( the eternal God." " Like the virgins men- 
" tioned in the Apocalypse, they attend him 
" wherever he goes ; they form his royal 
" court upon earth, and the ministry of his 
" throne ; they are the chosen guardians of his 
" person* possess the deposit of his blood, 
" and hold the mystic keys of his everlasting 
" kingdom. The Priest of Jesus Christ walks 
" among men a miracle of grace — is the rock that 
" pours forth water to the fainting — the man- 
" na that yields bread to the hungry — the bush 

* Such is the good account to which the doctrine of Tran- 
substantiation is turned. 



152 



MR. CANNING'S SPEECH. 



" that burns without being consumed." (iv. 
112.) " My brethren, to the reflecting mind this 
" ministry must surely present something di- 
" vinely sacred, and appears more worthy the 
" nature of angels than of men. It exalts 
" them above all for which human life had de- 
" signed them — makes them the agents of God, 
" the vicegerents of Jesus Christ, and the savi- 
" ours of men. In this point of view, it ranks them 
" even above the angelic spirits, and clothes them 
" with the divine character of the Messiah himself'' 
" These distinctions, however, arising from the 
" sacerdotal ministry, exclusively belong to the 
" Priesthood of the Catholic Church"— 111. 

Such, Sir, is the language of a work, pro- 
nounced by the highest authorities at Rome to 
be " truly worthy of a Catholic Missioner" — a 
work, " which not only merits approbation, but 
" entitles its author to a return of thanks and 
" every encouragement to promote his labour 
" in cultivating the vineyard of the Lord." The 
feelings of the mass of the Roman Catholics of 
Ireland seem to be in pretty strict accordance 
with the lofty pretensions, which this champion 
of their Church sets forth: and every day brings 
us some fresh instance of their eagerness to ad- 
vance the worldly greatness of their spiritual 
guides. 



IRISH BURIAL BILL. 



153 



It is not long ago since a Bill was brought 
into Parliament, and passed into a law, empow- 
ering the Roman Catholic Clergy to use their 
own rites of burial in the churchyards of the 
Established Church, on observing the lightest 
condition that was consistent with the very 
principles of any establishment. Of this mea- 
sure, Mr. Plunket, in recommending it to Par- 
liament, declared that " it was a charter of tole- 
" ration, for which the (Roman) Catholics ought 
" and would be grateful." What was the con- 
sequence ? The Bill was no sooner passed, the 
boon was no sooner conferred, than it was 
scorned and spurned : it is at this day become 
a by-word to the demagogues in Dublin, of all 
orders, lay and episcopal. And this, though 
the Head of their own Church, the venerated 
Pius VII. denounced the tolerant principle in 
Napoleon's Code, " That all modes of religious 
worship be free and publicly exercised," as contrary 
to the Canons, to the Councils, and to the 
Catholic Religion, to the tranquillity of life, 
and to the happiness of the State. 

We have since seen an open attempt, in one 
of the principal parishes in Dublin, to deprive 
the Protestant Vicar of what is at once his pri- 
vilege and his duty, the presidency at the Ves- 
try Meeting, and to give to a Roman Catholic 



154 R. c. bishops' claim 

Priest an equality of right with him. An eager- 
ness in trifles such as this, proves the animus 
of the parties as strongly as endeavours after 
greater objects. 

That many, indeed, or most of the Roman 
Catholics of Ireland, do look to the destruction 
of the Protestant Establishment, and the exal- 
tation of their own Church, as a necessary con- 
sequence of the unconditional concessions which 
they now demand, will hardly be doubted by 
any who watch their proceedings with the 
slightest attention. Mr. O'Connell will no 
longer hear of a provision for the ministers of 
his Church as part of an amicable adjustment 
of the claims of the Roman Catholics ; but he 
treats it as a matter of course, that, when the 
political privileges shall be conceded, an ade- 
quate endowment of their Clergy must follow. 
Several years ago, a highly honourable, and 
certainly not bigoted, member of that commu- 
nion, the late Sir John Throckmorton, in his 
Remarks on the Debate of 1805, made the fol- 
lowing frank avowal : — " I shall expect, very 
" seriously expect, when the subject has been 
" more matured, to hear that the Irish Bishops 
" of the Establishment, having since made over 
" a portion of their revenues, for the decent 
M maintenance of their Catholic brethren, are 



TO SEATS IN PARLIAMENT. . 155 

" ready to make further proposals, and to agree 
" to an alternate enjoyment, subject always to 
" his Majesty's choice, of dignities and emolu- 
" ments."* 

Pius VII., it is well known, treated it as a 
matter of course, that the Roman Catholic 
Bishops would sit in Parliament, and made this 
a reason for granting to government the security 
of a veto on their appointment. In truth, the 
principle on which the concessions are now de- 
manded, would carry with it an almost equal 
claim for the Bishops as for the laity. For if 
they are indeed Bishops, — Bishops of the sees 
to which they pretend, — they have by law a 
right to seats in Parliament. Those seats (ex- 
cept as they are affected by the Act of Union) 
are not conferred by statute, but by the com- 
mon law. No act ever passed to deprive the 
Roman Catholic Bishops, and to substitute the 
Protestant ; but if the succession has (as they 
strenuously contend) been preserved in them, 
and lost in our Church, they are the true and 
only Bishops of Ireland. Sir, our politicians 
may find, if they are not cautious in their pro- 
ceedings, that the well known maxim, only one 
Bishop in one see, is not a mere theological 

* Cited by Lord Stowell (then Sir \V. Scott) in his excellent 
speech, on March 2, 1813. 



156 



MR. CANNINGS SPEECH. 



nicety, but may lead, unless provided for in 
time, to grave political consequences hereafter. 
" I think the Church Establishment must fall 
" sooner or later," says Dr. Doyle, in his recent 
Letter to Lord Farnham; " the concession of 
" the Catholic claims," he continues, " would 
" hasten this desirable result, not by any revo- 
" lutionary movement, but by removing an im- 
" mense barrier, which the agitation of those 
" claims now opposes to the progress of reason 
" and justice, and by uniting all classes of Irish- 
" men in labouring to renovate their country, 
" and to restore her, divided and almost lifeless 
" as she is, to a state of health and vigor." He 
adds, " the concession of the rights which are 
" now withholden, might be the occasion, but 
" not the cause, of correcting abuses, of which 
" every honest man's conscience must disap- 
" prove :" in other words, putting down the 
Protestant Establishment. Really, Sir, if after 
these broad declarations made by the spokes- 
man of the Roman Catholic Hierarchy, any man 
still doubts their designs, it is not that they are 
dissemblers, but that he is blind. It is very 
true that they have just approached the House 
of Lords, Dr. Doyle among the rest, before the 
ink was dry of his Letter to Lord Farnham, 
with a Petition, in which, after boasting of their 



MR. CANNING S SPEECH. 



157 



fidelity to the Constitution and obedience to 
the laws, they take merit to themselves and to 
their flocks, for having " disclaimed, upon oath, 
" all intention to subvert the present Church 
" Establishment for the purpose of substituting 
" a Catholic Establishment in its stead;" and 
for having sworn " that they will exercise no 
" privilege to disturb and weaken the Protes- 
" tant Religion and Protestant Government of 
" Ireland." 

I have thus, Sir, freely remarked on every- 
thing which bears the semblance of argument, 
in your last speech on this most important 
question. I omit your addresses to the pas- 
sions of your hearers, above all, to their fears. 
I do so, because, in truth, I cannot suffer my- 
self to believe, that such a topic would be per- 
mitted to have the smallest weight in an assem- 
bly of British gentlemen, if the object at stake 
be what those who differ from you believe it to 
be — the maintenance of the civil and religious 
liberties of the people whom they represent. 
You yourself, indeed, are pleased to give the 
best and shortest answer to any argument of 
this kind, by saying that " you would not sub- 
" mit to the degradation of yielding to the lan- 
" guage of menace." Sir, that language has 



> 



158 SUGGESTION OF 

been used in every insulting form which the 
most rancorous malice or the wildest presump- 
tion could devise: and if concession be made to 
such sturdy beggars as these, 

it will require greater powers, and more con- 
summate eloquence, even than yours, to satisfy 
the people, that the dignity of Parliament, and 
the safety of the State, have not been wantonly 
and shamefully abandoned. 

Sir, it has sometimes passed as a day-dream 
through my mind, how happy for us it would 
have been, if you had been reserved to the pre- 
sent hour, free and unshackled, to follow the 
dictates of your own judgment, in discerning 
the fittest course to be taken with this ques- 
tion, and to employ the resources of your own 
genius in recommending that course to others. 
What your exact plan would be, I do not pre- 
sume to guess; — perhaps your Bill of 1813, with 
more or less of modification, if necessary, — but, 
above all, with some means of continuing the 
exclusion of those who would not renounce that 
most mischievous of all their dogmas, that great 
practical Heresy, which would make our ad- 
mitting them to legislate for a Protestant 
Church, to be little less than an act of suicide ; 
— I mean the tenet, " that all men are bound, 



NEW TEST. 



159 



" of necessity to salvation, to be subject to the 
" Pope, and to be members of the Church of 
" Rome." I will hazard the charge of presump- 
tion, by venturing to sketch a Test, founded on 
this principle, in lieu of the denial of the doc- 
trine of Transubstantiation, &c. 

" I, A. B., do declare, in the presence of 
" Almighty God, that I do not hold, nor believe 
" that it is necessary, in order to their eternal 
" salvation, that his Majesty King George, or 
7 any of his liege people, being Protestants, be, 
" or shall become, in any way subject to the 
'? Pope, or to any authority of the See of Rome: 
" and I do declare, that I do not hold, nor be- 
" lieve, that the Protestant Church of England 
" and Ireland, as by law established, is in such 
" wise heretical, that any of the members 
" thereof are, on that account, excluded from 
" the promises of the Gospel, or cut off from 
" Christian salvation: and I do faithfully pro- 
" mise and swear, that I will not use any power, 
" right, or privilege, which does, or shall, to 
" me belong, for the purpose of destroying, or 
" in any way weakening the Protestant Church, 
" and the establishment thereof, as it is now by 
" law maintained : So help me God." 

Sir, I bear no man's proxy, and am not sure 
that such a Test would satisfy any other indivi- 
dual of any party. 



160 



ENGLISH R. C. LAITY. 



That it would not satisfy the Irish leaders, 
I am well aware, and, in plain truth, I should 
have no sort of confidence in any that would. 
That it would be offensive to the Church of 
Rome, and to all the bigoted members of that 
Church, I have as little doubt, and for that 
very reason I should have more reliance on its 
efficacy. The great desideratum has always 
been to separate between the bigots and the 
moderate members of that Church; to bear 
with as light a hand as possible on the latter, 
and to controul the hostility of the former with 
the most effectual restraints that the wisdom of 
the legislature can devise. I should hope, that 
among the nobles and the educated laity of that 
communion, both in England and Ireland, many 
would be found who would spurn the mandates 
of their Church, if she should refuse to let them 
give to their Protestant countrymen such a se- 
curity for the safe and honest exercise of their 
functions as legislators. 

This is not mere idle speculation, nor 
wholly unsupported by facts. It is gratifying 
to find, in spite of the violent resolutions, which 
have recently passed in the meetings of the 
British Roman Catholic Association, that, as 
the organ of that meeting admits, " there is a 
" supineness, and even an apparent indifference 



MR. SILVERTOP. 



161 



" in too many of their body in England." It 
is still more gratifying to learn, that on one of 
their most important calls, when " a general 
" Address from the Catholics of Great Britain" 
was to be proposed, not more than siv or seven 
gentlemen attended. — But an incident of a 
more marked kind has also occurred. 

Not many months ago, at a public dinner in 
the county of Northumberland, on " The cause 
" of civil and religious liberty all over the 
" world," being given as a toast, a Roman Catho- 
lic gentleman, Mr. Silvertop, whom I name to 
honour, addressed the company in the follow- 
ing words : — " One of the scruples stated to 
" exist in some of the freeholders with regard 
" to the Catholics, is that they are intolerant, 
" because they maintain to themselves exclusive 
" salvation. With respect to this point, I can- 
" not avail myself of a better proof than that 
" which is afforded by my learned friend who 
" sits near me. My learned friend is descended 
" from Roman Catholic parents, he was bap- 
" tized in the Catholic Faith, and educated in 
" its tenets ; but in the sincerity of his heart, 
" he has abjured that religion, and espoused 
" the interests of the Reformed Church. But 
" notwithstanding my learned friend now pro- 
" fesses a different faith, I do not therefore 

M 



162 



MR. SILVER TOP. 



" think, he is less likely than myself, to obtain 
" happiness hereafter ; and I should be guilty 
" of gross blasphemy, if I thought otherwise ; 
" for of all the gifts which God has given to 
" man, reason is the most valuable ; and if my 
" learned friend has availed himself of that rea- 
" son, in coming to a determination to abandon 
" his former religion, and I, in the exercise of 
" mine, have adhered to my faith, I hope the 
" gates of heaven will be equally open to us." 

The' man, who entertains such sentiments 
as these, ought not, in my poor judgment, to 
be deprived of any political privilege, to which 
his station and his talents might enable him to 
aspire : much less ought he to be told, that he 
cannot in accordance with the Creed of Pius IV. 
be sincere in what he says. The consistency 
of his creed is his own affair. Let him believe, 
on the authority of his own Church, in Tran- 
substantiation, in Purgatory, in the efficacy of 
the Virgin Mary's intercession for him at the 
Throne of God. — These are points, — however 
we, as individual Protestants, may condemn 
them, — with which, in themselves, and except as 
indications of other tenets, which this gentle- 
man disclaims, the state has nothing whatever 
to do. To him, therefore, and to all who think 
like him, I should rejoice to see the temple of 



ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC LAITY. 163 

the British Constitution open wide it's doors, 
and receive them to its highest seats. Whe- 
ther they be many, or few, God only knows ; 
I should hope, that they would be found to be 
not few. 

The gentleman, who had expressed this 
sentiment of Christian charity, was, on account 
of it, at a subsequent meeting of the British 
Roman Catholic Association, openly denounced 
by an orator from Ireland as " a blasphemer." 
But here again it is gratifying to know, that a 
general burst of indignation followed the word. 
What was the real nature of the feeling which 
was thus displayed, whether it in any and in 
what degree proceeded from sympathy in the 
sentiment itself, or was the mere result of indig- 
nation at so gross an outrage, it cannot be easy 
to ascertain. Be that as it may, and without 
ascribing much importance to any single inci- 
dent of this kind, I venture to express my 
regret, that the experiment has never yet been 
tried, of changing the test from a speculative to 
a practical point, and that too one of the highest 
moment. One great advantage would neces- 
sarily follow : there would be no longer occa- 
sion left for declamatory harangues on the 
hardship of punishing men for speculative 
errors ; there would be no more prattle heard 

m 2 



164 



CONCLUSION. 



about nice distinctions between transubstantia- 
tion and consubstantiation : — and you, Sir, and 
men like you, would be spared the feeling of 
self-reproach, which the consciousness of having 
recourse to such wilful sophistry can hardly 
fail to inflict. In short, those who would be 
excluded by such a test, could not be held up 
as martyrs. It could not be any longer said, 
that they are stigmatized as idolaters, — that 
they are punished for following the dictates of 
their conscience. But the real truth would be 
made manifest, that they are the persecutors in 
spirit, — that, if there be any stigma, it is 
stamped by themselves, — that they are kept 
out of Parliament, because their conscience 
itself would compel them to abuse the power 
of legislation into an engine of spiritual tyranny, 
and of aggression on the conscience of others. 

Sir, I will not trespass on your patience fur- 
ther. I have already addressed you at greater 
length than I intended, at much greater than I 
wished. To condense or abridge, I have not 
now time — to correct or to soften, I have not 
inclination. That I have written with freedom, 
requires no apology : you would despise me if 
I had done otherwise. That I have sometimes 
censured with warmth, will not, I think, be 



CONCLUSION. 



165 



ascribed to any unseemly presumption. He 
who feels warmly, must give utterance to his 
feelings. But enough of this : it matters little, 
what shall be thought or said of me or of my 
puny labours. 

But it is of great moment that you, Sir, 
in the high station in which you are placed, — 
much more in that to which you may soon be 
called, — should consider well, whether any- 
thing has been said even by the humble indi- 
vidual who now addresses you, which ought 
to bring back to your remembrance pledges 
given, but not redeemed, — expectations lavishly 
excited, but utterly and entirely unfulfilled. 
The more moderate opponents of the Roman 
Catholic cause long looked to you as one of 
their best and strongest supports. If you were 
not wholly with us, yet we thought you sepa- 
rated by an insurmountable barrier from those, 
to whose wild pretensions we were opposed ; 
and have we indeed erred, in thinking that bar- 
rier to be insurmountable, which your own 
plighted faith had reared ? That you are inca- 
pable of wilfully betraying any cause, we well 
know : but inconstancy, if not so base as 
treachery, is often not less mischievous. And 
why were you inconstant? We must seek 
the answer in generous motives, for no others 
can influence you. 



166 



CONCLUSION. 



You generously, then, extended your pro- 
tection to those, whom you thought too harshly 
and unnecessarily restrained. Once engaged in 
this course, you pursued it with an honest, 
but sometimes a mistaken zeal — with zeal, 
which did not stop to measure every step it 
had already taken, but pressed onwards with 
too exclusive singleness of purpose to the goal 
before you. Though the frenzied violence of 
those, whom you sought to serve, must some- 
times have awakened your prudence ; yet the 
dread of appearing to desert them for the in- 
terests of personal ambition, has silenced your 
scruples, and to this hour has kept you stead- 
fast in their now degraded and degrading 
cause. Be more just, Sir, to yourself ; confide, 
as you ought, in the integrity of your own 
virtue, in the dignity of your own character: 
cast from you these idle apprehensions of the 
opinions of others — ne te qusesiveris extra. Or, 
if false shame is allowed so much weight, is 
there no regard to the just, though silent, re- 
proaches of those whom you have deserted ? 
Are the pledges you have long ago given to the 
Religion and Constitution of your country to be 
for ever abandoned ? Is nothing sacred, but an 
ill-omened, ill-assorted, unintended, unforeseen, 
casual, alliance with Demagogues and Jesuits ? 



CONCLUSION. 



167 



Sir, those who ask these questions, (and, be- 
lieve me, their number is not small,) ask them 
" more in sorrow than in anger." It has lately 
pleased God to bereave us of our best hope, — 
of a Prince, who reflected back the image of 
his Royal Father's firmness in this great cause ; 
— and we are now mourning over the couch of 
that Statesman, who, beyond all his predeces- 
sors, (the dead and the dying it is no flattery to 
praise,) hallowed the interests of the State, by 
binding them in one indissoluble knot, — indis- 
soluble, while he bore sway, — with the interests 
of pure religion. The return of yourself, and 
of men like you, to the principles which you 
once professed, and the standard under which 
you once fought, would almost compensate our 
loss, though it could not diminish our regret. 
But on whichever side the day of battle may 
find you, we are not, we thank God, without 
combatants, worthy of the high interests con- 
fided to their prowess. The eyes of an anxious 
nation are upon them ; the hearts of the British 
people are with them. With such a cause, 
such champions, such allies, it were criminal to 
doubt the issue. 

H. P. 

February 23, 1827. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



LETTERS to CHARLES BUTLER, Esq. on the THE- 

OLOGICAL PARTS of his Book of the Roman Catholic Church ; 
with Remarks on certain Works of Dr. Milner and Mr. Lingard, and on 
some Parts of the Evidence of Dr. Doyle before the Two Committees of 
the Houses of Parliament. Second Edition. 8vo. 9s. 6d. 

ALSO 

A SUPPLEMENTAL LETTER to CHARLES BUTLER, 

Esq. on some Parts of the Evidence given by the Irish Roman Catholic 
Bishops, particularly by Dr. Doyle, before the Committees of the Two 
Houses of Parliament, in the Session of \ 825 ; and also on certain Pas- 
sages in Dr. Doyle's " Essay on the Catholic Claims." 8vo. 6s. 



London : Printed by C.Roworth, 
Bell Yard, Temple Bar. 



I 
J 



/ 



